Soybean production in the country has increased by around 6 per cent, reaching nearly 126 lakh tonnes in the current kharif season, thanks to favorable weather conditions, according to the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) on Tuesday. The acreage under soybean cultivation remained almost unchanged from the previous season, the trade body added.

In the last kharif season, the average productivity of soybean per hectare was 1,002 kg, while this season it has risen to 1,063 kg, SOPA Executive Director D N Pathak told PTI. "This time the distribution of monsoon rains in the major soybean producing areas of the country was good, which boosted the crop yield. The adoption of advanced methods of farming by cultivators increased the crop yield" Pathak said.

However, Pathak noted that after the sowing of soybean during the kharif season of 2023, a lack of rainfall for three weeks in August caused a moisture deficit in key soybean-producing regions, negatively impacting the crop's productivity.

According to SOPA’s estimates, soybean was sown across 118.32 lakh hectares this season, with a total yield of 125.82 lakh tonnes. In comparison, during the 2023 kharif season, soybean was cultivated in 118.55 lakh hectares, yielding approximately 118.74 lakh tonnes of the oilseed crop.

Madhya Pradesh, the largest soybean-producing state in the country, saw soybean cultivation over 52 lakh hectares, yielding 55.40 lakh tonnes of produce, as per SOPA’s data. Maharashtra produced an estimated 50.17 lakh tonnes of soybean from 45 lakh hectares, while Rajasthan cultivated the crop on 11.13 lakh hectares, producing around 10.53 lakh tonnes.

India currently imports about 60 per cent of its edible oil needs. Experts believe that increasing the production of major oilseed crops, such as soybean, is crucial to achieving the country's goal of self-sufficiency in edible oil production.

In an effort to support farmers, the central government has raised the minimum support price (MSP) of soybean for the 2024-25 marketing season to Rs 4,892 per quintal, up from Rs 4,600 per quintal in the previous season.

(This story has been slightly reworked from an auto-generated PTI feed.)