Historic soybean crash: Outrage among farmers

- Commodity Current: Jayavadan Gandhi

Over the last five-six months, the Sensex has made history by overcoming the Corona epidemic in the country. Is. On the other hand, futures trading in computational commodities is now at a limited level as investors are slowly moving away from the controversy over the unexpected upswing due to speculative activity in the Indian commodity market. It is still debated in the small business community that steps need to be taken to ensure that small-sized lots as well as transparent trades take place to increase investor interest.

Due to good rains in the agricultural producing states across the country last week, the production of kharif crops is expected to increase, putting pressure on agricultural markets. In soybeans in particular, the government's skeptical policy has led to a breakdown in prices, with prices falling by 5 to 20 per cent in a matter of days. Seeing soybean prices as high as tens of thousands per quintal, farmers started soybean cultivation in Gujarat along with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In the Ratlam agricultural market of Madhya Pradesh, four days ago, Rs. The prices of soybeans sold at Rs. At a time when new soybean arrivals are just beginning, the government's policy has led to a market downturn, sparking outrage among farmers. In fact, there are suspicions in the market that the soybean market has broken down due to the recent green signal given by the central government to import 1.5 million metric tonnes of soybean. However, the Maharashtra government has opposed the Centre's move in writing. The soybean market is still expected to collapse to 3,000 if the recession continues.

With soybean pipelines largely emptying and high prices, farmers are expecting better prices this year. Farmers were more optimistic about soybeans this year as compared to last year due to good prices. In some states, soybean cultivation is the main crop. Soybean is cultivated in about 120 lakh hectares in the country seasonally and more than one crore farmers are involved in soybean cultivation. The decision to import soybean meal used for fodder in poultry was taken months ago but the whole matter has come under scrutiny with the possibility of an artificial recession as the local market has collapsed significantly at the time of soybean harvest.

Meanwhile, the opposite situation is in the saffron market. Prices of Indian exported saffron have reached record highs in the international market after the Taliban crisis in Afghanistan. A few months ago, the price was Rs 1.5 lakh per kg, but now it is Rs 2.5 lakh. Saffron cultivation, popularly known as red gold in Kashmir, starts in May and comes to market in October. Indian saffron is most exported to USA, Belgium, New Zealand, Canada as well as Gulf countries. In India, saffron is cultivated mainly in the four districts of Jammu and Kashmir, Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar and Kishtwar, and during the season, 12 metric tons of saffron is produced annually.

India is the third largest producer of saffron after India, Iran and Afghanistan. The foreign trade in saffron, which began in Afghanistan in 2010, has also seen a sharp rise in demand for Indian saffron, which was recently banned by the Taliban.