Soybean yields just one quintal an acre around Pimpalgaon Renukai as pods stay empty

Pimpalgaon Renukai: The soybean harvest is in full swing around Pimpalgaon Renukai in Bhokardan taluka, but threshing is bringing farmers only disappointment. The plants carried plenty of pods, but the grain did not fill. Farmers say they are getting only one to one-and-a-quarter quintals an acre, against four to five quintals last year.

Even where pods have grain, it is very small and shrivelled. There is no demand for such produce, and traders are unwilling to buy it. With four or five labourers needed every day for the harvest, farmers are not even recovering their cultivation costs.

Agricultural experts blame a break in the rains, followed by continuous rain and then stress on the crop at the grain-filling stage.

Farmer Gajanan Narwade said he had sown soybean on two acres but got only two quintals after threshing, not enough to cover his costs. Had he worked as a labourer instead, he said, he would have earned ₹600 a day.

Source: Pudhari