Increase in oilseed cultivation in Ravi season Mustard-Rayda crop likely to grow

- Ubhi Bazar ઃ Dilip Shah

- Despite the increase in the support price, farmers increased the area under cultivation as the market price remained high against this price

As the overall rainfall in the country has improved this year, soil moisture has increased and this has led to optimism for the sun crop season, said experts in the field of agriculture. According to the planting figures coming out of the first phase of planting in the Ravi season, there are indications of increasing attraction among farmers for planting various oilseeds. Compared to the cultivation of various pulses and paddy-rice, the country's farmers have shown special interest in planting oilseeds in the first phase of the Ravi season. According to sources in the government's agriculture department, mustard cultivation has increased since the beginning of the Ravi season. In Uttar Pradesh, mustard cultivation has increased to an area of ​​3 lakh 40 to 4 thousand hectares by mid-October as against about 1.50 lakh to 1.5 lakh hectares in the same period last year. The total area under cultivation of various agricultural crops in the country during this Ravi season is about 3 lakh 40 to 5 thousand hectares and the total area under this cultivation is specially planted with oilseeds, the sources said. The target for mustard crop for sun crop is estimated at 105 lakh tonnes. The target for wheat crop is 1100 lakh tonnes while the target for chickpea crop is 102 to 105 lakh tonnes. Sun planting has started in sorghum and maize. Coarse grains have been planted early in the Ravi season, especially in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Rice has been planted in an area of ​​barely 0.5 to 0.50 lakh hectares during this period. However, the area under chickpea cultivation during this period in the Ravi season this year is barely 0.05 lakh hectares as against 0.50 to 0.5 lakh hectares in the previous season.

Meanwhile, the government had imposed strict controls on mustard futures to curb the recent mustard-mustard-ryada prices. Mustard has recently been quoted at 5 to 20 per cent higher than the minimum support price-support price, which has led to increased interest in mustard cultivation among farmers, market analysts said. Farmers have recently been seen switching to mustard instead of wheat and chickpea. Similar trends have been observed in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh recently. Mustard is cultivated in the country mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The area under mustard cultivation in the Ravi season so far this year has increased by about 3 to 4 per cent in the first phase as compared to the same period last year. The government has increased the support price of mustard from Rs 30 per kg to Rs 3050 for the 2021-26 crop season in the country. Against this, the market price of mustard in Rajasthan was recently seen around Rs 200. Mustard cultivation in the country usually starts around Navratri and picks up around Diwali. The market is showing the possibility of increasing the area under cultivation. And the possibility of a new crop of mustard growing by about 10 to 15 per cent is being discussed in the market. The area under mustard cultivation in the country is expected to increase to 20 lakh hectares this year during the Ravi season, while the production of mustard is likely to increase to 3 to 4 lakh tonnes, sources in the committee said. Sources in the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (AAI) are predicting that the heat in North-India will increase and the cultivation of mustard will accelerate as the heat subsides and the cold starts. Last year's mustard crop was estimated at 3 lakh tonnes by market sources and new crop market circles are predicting a arrival of 4 to 5 lakh tonnes this year. In Rajasthan, the crop is expected to increase to 5 to 6 million tonnes. In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, the possibility of a new crop of mustard is also being discussed in the market.