Farmers in Madhya Pradesh opt for maize and urad over soybean; overall kharif sowing down 1%
Madhya Pradesh received 23% above normal rainfall this monsoon, but excessive July rains delayed sowing, causing a 1% drop in kharif crop area to 139.87 lakh ha. Soybean (51.2 lh) and paddy (36.2 lh) slipped slightly, while maize (23.5 lh) and urad (5.95 lh) rose. Yields may decline in most crops.
Madhya Pradesh – the largest producer of maize and sesamum as well as among the top three contributors to national production in soybean, niger and urad – has received 23 per cent above normal rainfall until September 10 during the current the monsoon season. But, due to excessive rainfall during July, the key period of sowing, many farmers missed the window. As a result, there is 1 per cent drop in the sowing areas this kharif.
“As the sowing window is nearly over in the State, the area under soybean, cotton, bajra, and jowar has not touched the normal acreage and is down by 5-17 per cent from last year. Whatever area has been sown, except for maize and paddy, the yield in most of the crops may decline this year,” said farmer leader Kedar Sirohi.
Rainfall pattern
He said this year’s rainfall pattern was disturbing — after good showers in June, excess rain in July delayed sowing and forced many farmers to switch to alternatives such as urad (blackmatpe), which matures in about 90 days. He said farmers in Madhya Pradesh are also shifting from soybean to maize due to low prices.
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Official data show that total crop area in Madhya Pradesh has reached 139.87 lakh hectare (lh) as of September 5, down from 141.32 lh year-ago. The normal crop area (under agricultural field crops) of the State is 135.99 lh in kharif season in which soybean, paddy and maize together has about 75 per cent share.
Crop-wise acreage
Soybean acreage has slipped 5 per cent at 51.20 lh, while that of paddy is a tad lower at 36.20 lh against 36.33 lh. But, area under maize has jumped 13.1 per cent to 23.50 lh. Similarly, urad acreage, too, increased 40.3 per cent to 5.95 lh.
Among other oilseeds, the groundnut area has dipped 36.9 per cent to 4.03 lh and sesamum by 31.2 per cent to 2.27 lh. But area under nigerseed expanded to 32,000 hectares this year from 19,000 hectares year-ago.
Area and tur has also improved 12 per cent to 3.36 lh, but moong acreage has slipped 22.1 per cent to 0.95 lh. While both bajra and jowar acreage is lower from year-ago, the cotton coverage has also declined nearly 10 per cent to 5.56 lh.
In the 2024-25 kharif season, Madhya Pradesh ranked second among all States in the production of soybean, nigerseed and urad; third in groundnut; fourth in jowar and bajra; fifth in rice; and sixth in cotton, moong and tur.
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Source : The Hindu Business line
