Study favours aggressive cultivation of soybean in Maharashtra
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
INDIA, BHOPAL, Jun 25 (PTI): Can Soybean end the woes of Maharashtra's farmers facing towering debts that are reportedly driving them to commit suicide?
A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore suggests that cultivating the oilseed instead of cotton could be more rewarding during the kharif season.
The findings have laid grounds for the Soybean Processors Association (SOPA) to urge the Centre and the Maharashtra government to aggressively promote the cultivation of soybean to boost the financial status of farmers.
Cotton has become unremunerative due to higher production costs, declining prices, yield risks and greater incidents of pest attack, the study by institute director S.P. Parashar and Associate Professor Dipayan Datta Chaudhuri concluded.
Cotton cultivation in India has been plagued by rising cost of cultivation, ineffective pesticides, adulterated seeds and other inputs, the study claimed.
Subsidies offered by rich nations like the US have led to decline in cotton prices in the world market.
In an era of liberalisation, domestic policies in India have led to the removal of quantitative restrictions and subsequently a reduction of import tariffs on cotton from 35 per cent in 2001- 02 to five per cent in 2002-03, it said.
A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore suggests that cultivating the oilseed instead of cotton could be more rewarding during the kharif season.
The findings have laid grounds for the Soybean Processors Association (SOPA) to urge the Centre and the Maharashtra government to aggressively promote the cultivation of soybean to boost the financial status of farmers.
Cotton has become unremunerative due to higher production costs, declining prices, yield risks and greater incidents of pest attack, the study by institute director S.P. Parashar and Associate Professor Dipayan Datta Chaudhuri concluded.
Cotton cultivation in India has been plagued by rising cost of cultivation, ineffective pesticides, adulterated seeds and other inputs, the study claimed.
Subsidies offered by rich nations like the US have led to decline in cotton prices in the world market.
In an era of liberalisation, domestic policies in India have led to the removal of quantitative restrictions and subsequently a reduction of import tariffs on cotton from 35 per cent in 2001- 02 to five per cent in 2002-03, it said.