Soybean economy of India : Performance, problems and prospects

Soybean crop has witnessed a phenomenal growth in production in the country during the last four decades but growth has been driven majorly by area expansion. During the last two decades, area expansion drove about 80 per cent of the increased production while yield contributed about 20 per cent to the increase in soybean production. One of the most important changes observed in the soybean acreage and production over the last three decades has been a declining share of Madhya Pradesh in area and production and increasing share of Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The demand for soybean is increasing rapidly due to higher demand from poultry feed industry and soybean based products such as soybean oil, soymilk, soy flour and soy protein. However, soybean producers face a variety of biotic, abiotic,socio-economic and policy-related constraintsthat affectsoybean production. Economic constraints were the most important constraintsfaced by soybean producers, followed by technological constraints, agro-climatic factors, institutional and post-harvest management and marketing related problems. The findings show that there exist huge yield gaps in case of soybean in the country. It was estimated that soybean productivity can be increased by about 47 per cent and production from current level of 11.64 million tonnes to about 18.6 million tonnes by bridging the gap between improved technology at farmers' field and actual farm yield in the country through improving extension services. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to bridge soybean yield gapsthrough strengthening institutional factors including better extension services, timely availability of quality inputs and services and improved post-harvest management and marketing facilities.