Hailed three decades ago as a miracle crop that brought about unprecedented prosperity to millions of Madhya Pradesh farmers, soyabean has turned into a fatal cause of agrarian distress in the state. Over a dozen debt-ridden farmers have either committed suicide or died due to shock in the last one week alone because of extensive damage to their crops.
There are reports of the crop being destroyed in 26 out of 51 soyabean growing districts of the state – due to scanty rains, in 11, attack of yellow or white mosaic in 12 and excessive rain in three districts.
The government estimates the damage from 35% to 40%, though local newspapers have projected the damage up to 70%, quoting farmers from across the state.
No relief
Whatever the actual assessment, the crop failure is driving farmers to end life while the chief minister is still mulling a relief package for them.
“A relief package is in the work for distressed farmers,” Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on October 9, soon after he landed in Bhopal from his 10-day foreign sojourn, while assuring farmers that his government would ensure maximum benefit to them on crop insurance.
The troubling fact, though, is that the Rs 515 crore compensation package announced by the state government for over four lakh distressed farmers last year is yet to reach them even as a spate in farmer suicide continues.
The state agriculture minister Gauri Shankar Bisen did not help matters when instead of empathising with the farmers' distress, he said, "Seventy per cent of people live in villages in Madhya Pradesh and most of them are farmers. There could be other reasons for suicide too."
Bisen’s assertion was of a piece with Union Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh’s statement in Lok Sabha in July when he quoted from the National Crime Records Bureau in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha to say that reasons for farmer suicides included "family problems, illness, drugs...dowry, love affairs and impotency".
According to the bureau, of the 5,650 farmers who committed suicide, 1400 had done so due to agrarian distress, as reported by the state governments.
The highest 2,568 suicides by farmers were in Maharashtra (45.5%), followed by 898 suicides in Telangana (15.9%) and 826 in Madhya Pradesh (14.6%).
Although no official figures are available for 2015 in Madhya Pradesh, the number of farmer suicides, it is feared, would be higher than last year because damage to various crops is more extensive this time around.
The miracle that failed
Most of the farmer suicides and shock-deaths in Madhya Pradesh this year have, however, occurred due to destruction of soyabean.
Imported from the United States of America in the 1980s, soyabean spectacularly adapted itself to the environs of Madhya Pradesh and the state emerged as the largest soyabean grower in India, getting to be known as the "soyabean bowl of India", accounting for over 65% of the country’s total production.
The cash crop changed the life of millions of farmers as they opted for mechanisation of agriculture in a big way in the 1980s. Many farmers bought tractors and other farm equipment from savings earned from soybean cultivation, according to agriculture experts.
However, production started declining in the late 1990s. Experts say a large number of farmers have continued to cling to soyabean cultivation because despite erratic rains and pest attacks over the years, this cash crop of kharif season had proved to be more dependable than traditional crops such as wheat, gram or paddy.
Until this year.
Experts attribute two main reasons for decline in soyabean production: one, lack of research to develop new seed varieties and, two, inability to protect the crop from increasing attack of pests such as white mosaic.
Agriculture expert and former director in state’s agriculture department, GS Kaushal, says the crop has been suffering almost every year from diseases, and since the annual production is average, prices crash.” Yet, the fall in yield had not been as precipitous in the past as this year, he added.
“The production this year has been hit by white mosaic and shortage of water,” said Rajesh Rajora, the state's principal secretary, agriculture.
Falling exports
Apart from crop related issues, India’s soybean meal exports have dropped drastically by about 85% from a record level of 4.24 million tonnes during fiscal year 2008-09 to a meagre 0.64 MT in 2014-15, noted a just-concluded study by apex industry body Associated Chamber of Commerce.
“Soyabean scenario in India is currently at crossroads due to erratic production, declining soybean meal exports and consequent idling of plants, poor soyabean oil output while edible oil imports are growing and currently account for almost 60 per cent of country’s total requirement,” said DS Rawat, national secretary general of ASSOCHAM, while releasing the findings of its study.
Fall in production has resulted in rise in soyabean price by Rs 10,000 per tonne this year to Rs 37000 per tonne, according to Soyabean processors association of India. The soya processing sector in Madhya Pradesh, which is estimated to be worth Rs 25000 crore, is under extreme stress. Out of 70 soya processing units in the state, 20 are not in a position to start production.
As the government machinery takes its own time to react to the farmers’ plight on crop loss across the state, series of protests and agitations have started from farmers in various districts.
Damage to other crops, particularly wheat, accounted for most farmer suicides in the state in previous years. Destroyed soyabean has added one more crop to the list this year, on which cotton has been a prominent name this year from Punjab, in addition to Mahrashtra and Telangana.
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There are reports of the crop being destroyed in 26 out of 51 soyabean growing districts of the state – due to scanty rains, in 11, attack of yellow or white mosaic in 12 and excessive rain in three districts.
The government estimates the damage from 35% to 40%, though local newspapers have projected the damage up to 70%, quoting farmers from across the state.
No relief
Whatever the actual assessment, the crop failure is driving farmers to end life while the chief minister is still mulling a relief package for them.
“A relief package is in the work for distressed farmers,” Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on October 9, soon after he landed in Bhopal from his 10-day foreign sojourn, while assuring farmers that his government would ensure maximum benefit to them on crop insurance.
The troubling fact, though, is that the Rs 515 crore compensation package announced by the state government for over four lakh distressed farmers last year is yet to reach them even as a spate in farmer suicide continues.
The state agriculture minister Gauri Shankar Bisen did not help matters when instead of empathising with the farmers' distress, he said, "Seventy per cent of people live in villages in Madhya Pradesh and most of them are farmers. There could be other reasons for suicide too."
Bisen’s assertion was of a piece with Union Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh’s statement in Lok Sabha in July when he quoted from the National Crime Records Bureau in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha to say that reasons for farmer suicides included "family problems, illness, drugs...dowry, love affairs and impotency".
According to the bureau, of the 5,650 farmers who committed suicide, 1400 had done so due to agrarian distress, as reported by the state governments.
The highest 2,568 suicides by farmers were in Maharashtra (45.5%), followed by 898 suicides in Telangana (15.9%) and 826 in Madhya Pradesh (14.6%).
Although no official figures are available for 2015 in Madhya Pradesh, the number of farmer suicides, it is feared, would be higher than last year because damage to various crops is more extensive this time around.
The miracle that failed
Most of the farmer suicides and shock-deaths in Madhya Pradesh this year have, however, occurred due to destruction of soyabean.
Imported from the United States of America in the 1980s, soyabean spectacularly adapted itself to the environs of Madhya Pradesh and the state emerged as the largest soyabean grower in India, getting to be known as the "soyabean bowl of India", accounting for over 65% of the country’s total production.
The cash crop changed the life of millions of farmers as they opted for mechanisation of agriculture in a big way in the 1980s. Many farmers bought tractors and other farm equipment from savings earned from soybean cultivation, according to agriculture experts.
However, production started declining in the late 1990s. Experts say a large number of farmers have continued to cling to soyabean cultivation because despite erratic rains and pest attacks over the years, this cash crop of kharif season had proved to be more dependable than traditional crops such as wheat, gram or paddy.
Until this year.
Experts attribute two main reasons for decline in soyabean production: one, lack of research to develop new seed varieties and, two, inability to protect the crop from increasing attack of pests such as white mosaic.
Agriculture expert and former director in state’s agriculture department, GS Kaushal, says the crop has been suffering almost every year from diseases, and since the annual production is average, prices crash.” Yet, the fall in yield had not been as precipitous in the past as this year, he added.
“The production this year has been hit by white mosaic and shortage of water,” said Rajesh Rajora, the state's principal secretary, agriculture.
Falling exports
Apart from crop related issues, India’s soybean meal exports have dropped drastically by about 85% from a record level of 4.24 million tonnes during fiscal year 2008-09 to a meagre 0.64 MT in 2014-15, noted a just-concluded study by apex industry body Associated Chamber of Commerce.
“Soyabean scenario in India is currently at crossroads due to erratic production, declining soybean meal exports and consequent idling of plants, poor soyabean oil output while edible oil imports are growing and currently account for almost 60 per cent of country’s total requirement,” said DS Rawat, national secretary general of ASSOCHAM, while releasing the findings of its study.
Fall in production has resulted in rise in soyabean price by Rs 10,000 per tonne this year to Rs 37000 per tonne, according to Soyabean processors association of India. The soya processing sector in Madhya Pradesh, which is estimated to be worth Rs 25000 crore, is under extreme stress. Out of 70 soya processing units in the state, 20 are not in a position to start production.
As the government machinery takes its own time to react to the farmers’ plight on crop loss across the state, series of protests and agitations have started from farmers in various districts.
Damage to other crops, particularly wheat, accounted for most farmer suicides in the state in previous years. Destroyed soyabean has added one more crop to the list this year, on which cotton has been a prominent name this year from Punjab, in addition to Mahrashtra and Telangana.
