An Economic viability of soyabean crop cultivation in Maharashtra: Some emerging issues

The present investigation attempts to assess economic viability of soyabean crop cultivation in the state of Maharashtra with the extension to evaluating losses of crop during pre-and post harvest operations. A critical analysis drawn from changes in costs and profitability during the last one decade based on CACP reports clearly showed positive returns from soyabean crop in Maharashtra only over variable cost. There were several instances when soyabean crop yielded negative retunes over total cost of cultivation in Maharashtra. Therefore, in order to boost cultivation of soyabean crop, there is need to reduce cost and increase yield, aside from raising MSP for this important oilseed crop cultivated in Maharashtra. In fact, fluctuating profitability in soyabean crop cultivation owing to rising cost is a matter of concern, especially in view of the fact that about 15 per cent of soyabean crop production is also lost during pre-and post harvest operations. In order to curb these losses, there is need to provide proper guidance to the farmers on pests and disease control measures, and also enabling them to adopt scientific methods of various post-harvest operations, aside from improvement in marketing practices. The scientific methods of harvesting, threshing, winnowing, transportation and storage operations will certainly lead to minimization of total post-harvest losses and raise profitability of the crop.