SOPA urges government to delay soybean sales until July 15 to protect farmers from price drop

The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) has urged the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan not to sell soybean before 15th July so that soybean sowing is not affected adversely because of very low soybean pricesIn its representation to the government, SOPA has said that NAFED, one of the agencies, which has procured soybean from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) under the Price Support Scheme of the government, is going to start selling the soybean in the open market from March 3 onwards. The current mandi price of soybean ranges between Rs 3900 to Rs 4100 per quintal, which is much below the MSP of Rs 4892 per quintal. The move to sell soybean now is ill-timed as it will result in a further fall in soybean prices, SOPA has said to the government.Soybean sowing starts in the third week of June and continues till the 15th of July and any further fall in the prices will discourage the farmers from sowing soybean. Interaction with a large number of farmers in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have indicated that they are disappointed with the low return on soybean cultivation and will move to other more remunerative crops in the coming season.The sale of soybeans at this time will also be contrary to the self-sufficiency target of the government led by you. "As we have seen in the case of pulses, good prices are the single biggest factor for the farmers deciding to grow more pulses and increase productivity. The same will be the case with oilseeds and we must ensure remunerative prices to the farmers," SOPA said in its representation."We would request you to kindly issue the necessary instructions that soybean stocks held by NAFED and NCCF may be sold in the open market only after 15th July, when sowing is over," the representation further added.