Soybean harvest nears end in Medshi circle with yields of just one to two quintals an acre

Malegaon: The soybean harvest in the Medshi revenue circle of the taluka is in its final stage, but adverse weather and erratic rain have cut yields sharply, with farmers reporting an average of just one to two quintals an acre this year. The rain stayed away for a long spell while the crop was flowering, and the beans did not fill.

In many places the crop does not even cover the cost of labour and machine harvesting. Over the past four or five years the cost of seed, fertiliser, pesticides, labour and harvesting has risen while soybean prices have stayed below expectations and yields have fallen, hitting farmers twice over. Last year incessant heavy rain damaged the crop; this year it was the lack of rain.

Washim is one of the state's main soybean-growing districts. Twenty to twenty-five years ago its farmers grew urad, moong, jowar and cotton, before turning to soybean for its low costs and good prices. Now, with very little water in the area's reservoirs and wells, farmers are unsure whether to sow rabi crops such as wheat and gram.

Source: Tarun Bharat Nagpur