Soybean, known as "yellow gold", is losing favour with farmers in India. For a variety of reasons, they are now turning away from growing it. The report draws on The Hindu.

Arvind Singh Rathore, a young farmer from Muradpura village in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, now wants to leave farming for another occupation, because, he says, there is no longer any profit in soybean. His family has grown soybean for three generations. But yields have now fallen to less than half, and prices are lower than 15 years ago.

According to Arvind, yields are now two to two and a half quintals an acre, where they were once more than four quintals. The price is also Rs 1,000 lower. Even alternative crops such as maize are hit by nilgai.

He said that if the government imports soybean from the United States, domestic farmers will be completely ruined.

Although the Indian government announced a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,328 a quintal for the current kharif season, farmers at Indore's Chhawani market are being forced to sell soybean at just Rs 3,000. "The government says it is giving the MSP, but we are getting less than half," Arvind said.

According to government data, the area under oilseeds in India in the 2025 kharif season fell by one crore six lakh hectares from the previous year, of which soybean alone fell by more than nine lakh hectares. More than 40 per cent of India's total soybean output comes from Madhya Pradesh.

Another farmer, Dilip Singh, said: "Our ancestors used to grow millet and pulses. The government encouraged us to grow soybean. Now millet prices have risen and soybean prices have fallen." He said the price, which was Rs 4,200 a quintal in 2014, has now fallen to Rs 3,300 to Rs 3,500.

Farmers also voiced anger at the government's "Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana". Arvind called it a fraud: "The government states one price and pays another in reality." Input costs alone are Rs 8,000 to 10,000 an acre, and running machines costs up to another Rs 3,000, he said.

DN Pathak, executive director of the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA), warned that if soybean imports from the United States begin, "our industry will be destroyed and farmers will not survive either". He said India now produces soybean at $620 a tonne, while the US price is $380. If imports begin, domestic produce will not sell.

Kedar Sirohi, a member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), said Madhya Pradesh's economy depends on soybean, but production is falling sharply because of poor-quality seed and falling market prices. By his estimate, this year's output could be 20 lakh tonnes lower than last year's.

Kailash Parthani, a trader at the Chhawani grain market, said up to 6,000 tonnes of soybean used to be sold a month, but this has now fallen to 2,000 tonnes. If imports come, both traders and farmers will suffer, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.