Business

India: Cotton losing to soyabean in Vidarbha

Area under cotton cultivation is fast dwindling in Vidarbha as farmers shift to more lucrative crops, like soyabean. In Amravati division alone, area under cotton has almost halved over the past five years, from 1.5 million hectares to 815,000 hectares. In the same period, the area under soyabean has increased from 800,000 hectares to 1.56 million hectares in the division.

In Yavatmal district, nearly 90 percent of the villagers have opted for soyabean this season, due to the rising cost of cotton cultivation, poor price for cotton and labor problems. In Yavatmal, which accounts for the highest number of suicides among farmers in Vidarbha, cotton has been replaced by soyabean on 88,000 hectares in the past one year. “In 2013, the area under cotton and soyabean is almost equal,” District Agriculture Officer D.I. Patil says.

Ever rising minimum support prices for cotton are not attraction enough for farmers, as cost of Bt cotton cultivation is very high, say farmer societies. Also, soyabean takes less time to harvest than cotton, so farmers can grow a second crop in the same year.