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Farmers bringing more land under soybean cultivation
PUNE: With soybean giving better rates and profits than other Kharif crops, farmers in the Pune district are bringing more and more land under soybean cultivation
PUNE: With soybean giving better rates and profits than other Kharif crops, farmers in the Pune district are bringing more and more land under soybean cultivation. In Pune district alone, soybean was sowed on 32,952 hectare as against the allocated 17,481 hectare. Not only Pune but across Maharashtra while soybean used to be earlier sowed on around 28 lakh hectare of land, it is now sowed on approximately 43 lakh hectare of land.
Dnyaneshwar Bote, district agriculture officer, said, “The soybean rate is increasing every day. It gives a very good rate to farmers as compared to other Kharif crops. However, good rain too has helped increase sowing activity in the district.”
“In major parts of the state, farmers have started focusing on the soybean crop. More farmers have left investing in groundnuts or jawari. Once a major crop in the Pune district, the sowing of jawari has gone down because it does not generate rates like soybean,” Bote said.
Apart from soybean reaping more profit, soybean oil too is bringing in greater cash flow for traders.
According to the state agriculture department, Kharif crops have been sowed on 11.03 hectare land across Maharashtra in 2021. With adequate rainfall, the sowing activity has entered its last stage. But wherever farming land was washed away due to heavy rain, re-sowing activity has been completed. Rice has been the worst-hit crop.
“At many places, farmers suffered greater losses. Fertile soil was washed away due to heavy rain which caused major trouble in terms of re-sowing activity,” Bote said.
In the Pune district alone, 97% of sowing activity has been completed with Kharif crops sowed on 184,274 hectare and sowing activity completed on 177,831 hectare.
An official who did not wish to be named said, “In a majority of farms, crops have started growing and farmers are focusing on spraying fertilisers and keeping insects and pests away.”
Vilas Uike, a farmer from Maval said, “We should not receive very heavy rain now. Moderate rain is good for growing crops but heavy rain destroys them.”
Soybean rate per quintal
2019: ₹3,000 to ₹3,300
2020: ₹4,000
2021: ₹8,000
Soybean sowing in hectare in the Pune district
Total soybean allocated field: 17,489
2021 sowing occurred on: 32,952
