Changing Crop Patterns in Vidarbha... decline of white gold...

Mohan Halule is a soybean farmer in the village of Dorli, in Wardha district of Maharasthra. Until two years ago, he was cultivating cotton. With falling prices and increasing costs of production forced him to shift to soybean cultivation. This is the story of changing crop patterns in the cotton belt of India. Most farmers are shifting to soybean; currently 70 per cent of farmers in this region have shifted to this crop. And 70 per cent is not a small figure. Thanks to the volatile markets and withdrawing government support, this seems the most feasible thing for these farmers.

But how long can the farmers sustain upon this crop? According to Mr. Vijay Jawandia, member of Shetkari Sangathan, soybean is a very risky crop and is rain dependent. Also considering the fact that it is less labour intensive, the need for agricultural labour too has dropped leaving many landless farmers jobless. He further pointed out that the soybean area would only increase with passing years as there is a greater demand for soybeans in the global market for a number of factors. This increase will however come with risks he said.

But for many farmers like Neelkanta Ugal of Dorli, soybean is but a natural choice for cultivation, because of its price in the market. The current price for soybean is Rs 2050 per quintal, while the input cost is Rs 3000 per acre. Comparatively, cotton fetches anywhere between Rs 2000-2600 per quintal, but with higher input costs of Rs 6000 per acre. The yield of soybean is higher compared to cotton; hence the cotton farmers have no profit margin after the sale. Says Neelkanta, “At least we have some profit through soyabean. Cotton is no more profitable”

Also soybean is an early maturing crop, i.e. it is on fields only for three months unlike cotton which is on fields till March, thereby giving the farmers scope to go in for a second crop, with minimum investments. Many farmers like Neelkanta Ugal, often go in for planting pulses or sugarcane as a second crop.

According to a report by Jaideep Hardikar, DNA correspondent, this year alone, the area under soybean has increased to over 17-lakh hectare, up from 15-lakh hectare last year in Vidarbha at the cost of cotton acreage that has dipped to 14-lakh hectare, much below its annual average of 17-lakh hectare.

The farmers are tempted to sow this cash crop as the returns are any day higher compared to that of cotton. However, Jawandia begs to differ. He feels that Indian agriculture depends too much on the whims of the international market. “The government should encourage the farmers to go back to their original way of farming, by giving incentives to those who plant food crops.” Jowar is a staple food of this region, however the price that jowar gets in the market has not changed since ’95.

Soybean cultivation might be matching the cotton cultivation, but it certainly is a short term solution. Instead, the government can encourage the cultivation of traditional oil seeds like mustard and sunflower, thereby decreasing the dependency of the farmers on cotton. Price stability is however the key factor here, according to Kishore Tiwari, head of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. “The government has to stabilise the crop prices as they are right now entirely dependent on the volatile markets and there is no guarantee that these prices will hold good in the future”.Whatever is the market dynamics, for these farmers it’s a case of ‘making hay while the sun shines.’