Gujarat replaces MP as top oilseed producer: Economic Survey

Madhya Pradesh, which has been India's largest oilseeds producer for the past many years, has lost the top spot to Gujarat, reveals Economic Survey 2014-15.

Madhya Pradesh, which has been India's largest oilseeds producer for the past many years, has lost the top spot to Gujarat, reveals Economic Survey 2014-15.

Madhya-Pradesh-HT-photo

The reason is that the state's soybean production fell in the 2013-14 kharif season due to crop damage caused by erratic rainfall.

The production of other oilseeds, including rapeseed and mustard, also came down while Gujarat registered an increase in groundnut production during the same period.

The fourth advance estimates for 2013-14 kharif season published in the latest Economic Survey reveal that total oilseed production in Madhya Pradesh came down to 6.7 million tonnes (MT) from 6.77 MT estimated earlier.

Meanwhile, total oilseed production in Gujarat climbed up to 6.8 MT from 6.2 MT estimated earlier.

Rajasthan, which was at the second spot, has slipped to the third place behind Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The reason for the fall in MP's total oilseeds production is the fall in soybean production from earlier estimated 5.49 million tonnes to 5.40 million tonnes and due to the fall in rapeseed and mustard production from earlier estimated 0.99 MT to 0.90 MT.

"The erratic rainfall had led to some crop damage and resulted in the fall in MP's soybean production," scientist and former director of National Research Centre for Soybean (NRCS) Dr PS Bhatnagar said.

Meanwhile, groundnut production in Gujarat was revised to 4.9 MT from 4.76 MT in 2013-14.

In fact, Gujarat has made significant progress in oilseed production in the past two years from 4.93 MT in 2011-12 to 6.8 MT, according to the latest survey.

MP's wheat production shot up in 2013-14 to 13.9 MT, making it the third largest producer in the country, replacing Haryana. However, the figures provided in the Economic Survey are much lower than the MP agriculture department's estimated figure of 17.4 MT for 2013-14. Uttar Pradesh registered the largest wheat production at 30.3 MT followed by Punjab at 17.0 MT in 2013-14, according to the survey.