With normal monsoon forecast, soybean cultivation expected to

With a forecast of normal monsoon, the Soybean Processors Association of India today predicted 14 per cent increase in soybean cultivation area in the country.

"During the coming kharif season, soybean will be sown on 120 lakh hectares in the country, against 105 lakh hectares last year," SOPA chairman Davish Jain told PTI.

With the Met department forecasting a normal monsoon, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are chief producers of the crop, would see increased soybean cultivation, he said.

These two states produce nearly 80 per cent of the country's soybean crop.

In the last four Kharif seasons, farmers in these two states were seen favouring crops such as Tuar, Moong and Urad, as soybean prices were not attractive.