MILIND GHATWAI, FE Bureau
Friday, Aug 17, 2012
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh boasts of being a leader in soybean production in the country, with the crop accounting for more than half the area under cultivation. It, however, has a poor record of productivity, the average yield being lower than the national average. Millions of marginal and small soybean farmers across MP take home much less than what they can, failing to make the most of this cash crop for which there are ready buyers.
However, things could change for better if a collaborative project between Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the state government bears fruit.
The ambitious programme seeks to share and transfer knowledge, experience and technologies for soybean cultivation available in Japan to farmers in Madhya Pradesh where the yield has not increased over the last decade.
Though the programme began last year, it was formally launched last week at the Central Institute for Agriculture Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal, in the presence of scientists from Japan and Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV), Jabalpur, and Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (RVSKVV), Gwalior.
Called Project for Maximisation of Soybean Production in Madhya Pradesh, the five-year programme will address several factors contributing to low productivity in MP, which has a very high agricultural growth rate mainly because it was lagging way behind other states.
From sowing excess seed to lack of proper drainage to injudicious use of chemicals and absence of quality seed, a typical farmer in MP, who has less resources to begin with, reports per hectare productivity of 1,077 kg — much less than the national average of 1,155.
According to scientists, the low yield is alarming because the potential of the seed varieties is much more. In demonstration farms in MP, the yield exceeded 1,700 kg per hectare, reflecting a sizeable gap.
There are a few pockets in MP where productivity is as high as 2,000 kg/ha but there are areas where the yield is less than 600 kg.
In Japan, the average yield is 1,620 kg. Though the yield in Japan is not highest in the world — the US and Brazil are ahead — the country has made enough progress for MP farmers to benefit from.
“Even Japan struggled with some of these problems a couple of decades ago, but managed to overcome them with improved farm practices,’’ says Dr Sohel Kobayashi, Chief Advisor of the MP-JICA Soybean Project. He says that the state’s farmers don’t keep proper spacing and take measures to protect plants.
Farmers in Japan have better resources and get quality seed from certified agencies, something the state doesn’t have. The local farmers depend on the state government for quality seed but the demand is rarely met.
The first phase of the project involved surveillance study under which scientists visited several farms to know the current practices and the factors responsible for low yield.
Almost all farmers rely on rainfall for soybean cultivation, and an erratic monsoon means there is every possibility of their calculations going wrong. For example, the monsoon almost ditched the state this year between June 20 and July 5, the sowing period.
Scientists say farmers tend to store water to negate the vagaries of the nature but stagnated water causes moisture retention in plants affecting growth and yield.
Dr S B Nahatkar, principal scientist at JNKVV, who visited 16 districts as part of the project, says that instead of going for line sowing farmers prefer to broadcast seed using 100 kg, when 60 to 75 kg would do, and don’t replace seed every three years.
Based on the surveillance studies, says Dr S S Tomar, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Director Research Services, JNKVV, new techniques would be developed on university farms and large-scale field trials will be done over the next two years.
Incidentally, Japan uses soybean for tofu and other food items unlike India where the seed is used only to make oil. Japan imports de-oiled cakes from MP.
Friday, Aug 17, 2012
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh boasts of being a leader in soybean production in the country, with the crop accounting for more than half the area under cultivation. It, however, has a poor record of productivity, the average yield being lower than the national average. Millions of marginal and small soybean farmers across MP take home much less than what they can, failing to make the most of this cash crop for which there are ready buyers.
However, things could change for better if a collaborative project between Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the state government bears fruit.
The ambitious programme seeks to share and transfer knowledge, experience and technologies for soybean cultivation available in Japan to farmers in Madhya Pradesh where the yield has not increased over the last decade.
Though the programme began last year, it was formally launched last week at the Central Institute for Agriculture Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal, in the presence of scientists from Japan and Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV), Jabalpur, and Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (RVSKVV), Gwalior.
Called Project for Maximisation of Soybean Production in Madhya Pradesh, the five-year programme will address several factors contributing to low productivity in MP, which has a very high agricultural growth rate mainly because it was lagging way behind other states.
From sowing excess seed to lack of proper drainage to injudicious use of chemicals and absence of quality seed, a typical farmer in MP, who has less resources to begin with, reports per hectare productivity of 1,077 kg — much less than the national average of 1,155.
According to scientists, the low yield is alarming because the potential of the seed varieties is much more. In demonstration farms in MP, the yield exceeded 1,700 kg per hectare, reflecting a sizeable gap.
There are a few pockets in MP where productivity is as high as 2,000 kg/ha but there are areas where the yield is less than 600 kg.
In Japan, the average yield is 1,620 kg. Though the yield in Japan is not highest in the world — the US and Brazil are ahead — the country has made enough progress for MP farmers to benefit from.
“Even Japan struggled with some of these problems a couple of decades ago, but managed to overcome them with improved farm practices,’’ says Dr Sohel Kobayashi, Chief Advisor of the MP-JICA Soybean Project. He says that the state’s farmers don’t keep proper spacing and take measures to protect plants.
Farmers in Japan have better resources and get quality seed from certified agencies, something the state doesn’t have. The local farmers depend on the state government for quality seed but the demand is rarely met.
The first phase of the project involved surveillance study under which scientists visited several farms to know the current practices and the factors responsible for low yield.
Almost all farmers rely on rainfall for soybean cultivation, and an erratic monsoon means there is every possibility of their calculations going wrong. For example, the monsoon almost ditched the state this year between June 20 and July 5, the sowing period.
Scientists say farmers tend to store water to negate the vagaries of the nature but stagnated water causes moisture retention in plants affecting growth and yield.
Dr S B Nahatkar, principal scientist at JNKVV, who visited 16 districts as part of the project, says that instead of going for line sowing farmers prefer to broadcast seed using 100 kg, when 60 to 75 kg would do, and don’t replace seed every three years.
Based on the surveillance studies, says Dr S S Tomar, Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Director Research Services, JNKVV, new techniques would be developed on university farms and large-scale field trials will be done over the next two years.
Incidentally, Japan uses soybean for tofu and other food items unlike India where the seed is used only to make oil. Japan imports de-oiled cakes from MP.
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