Shifting from soyabean to maize poses challenge for Oilseeds Mission to succeed
There was an increase in maize area this kharif season, but it also seems to have an unintended impact on oilseeds area in some states as farmers seem to be moving towards a new evolving ‘cash crop’ which was so far only known as a coarse cereal. But, experts feel that there needs to be proper crop planning to make sure that the recently rolled out National Oilseeds Mission becomes a success.
Though total acreage under Kharif maize was at 83.95 lakh hectare (lh) this year, which is a tad higher from 83.29 lh in 2023, in states like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra the maize acreage is 3-5 lh more whereas oilseeds are a tad lower from 2023 levels.
“There is a need to look at the crops comprehensively as the current ethanol policy does not take such a view. Wishing the paddy area to shift to maize is one thing but making a suitable policy is another. While the government’s assured procurement of paddy at minimum support price provides a confidence to farmers of the cereal, there is no such guarantee for soyabean or other oilseed,” said a former agriculture commissioner. He said that the ‘ethanol from maize’ programme has pushed up prices of maize whereas there is no such programme for oilseeds.
Unless a “credible and transparent” procurement policy is implemented for oilseeds, farmers are not going to be inclined to these crops, he said adding the prices of other crops will always be taken into consideration by farmers while selecting any alternative crop.
Data shows that, the maize area in Madhya Pradesh during kharif 2024 increased to 20.8 lh from 15.3 lh year-ago while soyabean acreage dipped to 57.77 lh from 60.6 lh. Similarly, in Maharashtra the soyabean area dropped to 50.52 lh from 51.15 lh and the maize acreage rose to 11.07 lh from 9.09 lh.
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are top two producers of soyabean in the country. In Kharif maize, Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer while Maharashtra is at number three.
The Union Cabinet in October (after Kharif sowing completed) approved the National Mission on Edible Oil (Oilseeds) with an estimated cost of ₹10,103 crore to be implemented over next six years with a target to increase the production of oilseed crops to 69.7 million tonnes (mt) by 2030-31 from current 39.67 mt. Together with NMEO-OP (Oil Palm), the Mission targets to increase domestic edible oil production to 25.45 mt by 2030-31 meeting around 72 per cent of our projected domestic requirement.
On the other hand, Gujarat’s acreage under groundnut, which is the main oilseed crop of the largest producing state, has increased from 16.35 lh to 18.95 lh despite a marginal increase in maize area in (from 2.82 lh to 3.05 lh). Bucking the trend of MP and Maharashtra, Karnataka farmers have dumped maize for oilseeds. The area under kharif maize in Karnataka, the second biggest grower, dipped from 17.45 lh to 15.45 lh, but its total oilseeds area rose from 7.28 lh to 8.17 lh.
Kisan Mahapanchayat president Rampal Jat, who has been fighting for decades to ensure MSP for crops, said that in last November the groundnut farmers in Gujarat had received average 1 per cent more than MSP and that was probably one of the key factors for higher acreage this year. But, the average mandi price of groundnut was 18-20 per cent below MSP last month in Gujarat, which shows how the procurement policy is working on ground.
Meanwhile, the official procurement data (under MSP operation) show that Nafed has purchased 1.97 lakh tonnes (lt) of groundnut from three states, including 1.51 lt from Gujarat as of December 12. It has also procured 4.15 lt of soyabean from six states, including 2.17 lt from Madhya Pradesh and 1.09 lt from Maharashtra.