Low Farmer Interest Leads to 8% Decline in Tuvar Sowing
30-Jul-2025 12:46 PM
New Delhi. This time, farmers are showing less interest in the cultivation of Arhar (Tuvar), the most important pulse crop produced in the Kharif season, due to which its sowing area is lagging behind last year.
The area under Tuvar has decreased especially in the three top producing states - Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, because a section of farmers there has become more attracted towards maize, cotton and oilseeds etc.
instead of Tuvar. However, this is not the case in Telangana and there has been some increase in the production area of Tuvar.
Data from the Union Agriculture Ministry shows that during the current Kharif season, till July 25, the total production area of Tuvar at the national level could reach only 34.90 lakh hectares, which is 3.10 lakh hectares or about 8 percent less than the sowing area of 38 lakh hectares during the same period last year.
It is noteworthy that this time the five-year average area of pigeon pea has been estimated to be 44.71 lakh hectares, compared to which its area is still about 10 lakh hectares behind.
During the period under review, the production area of pigeon pea in Karnataka has decreased from 15.42 lakh hectares to 13.01 lakh hectares, while the state agriculture department has set the target of its sowing area at 16.80 lakh hectares.
In Karnataka's most prominent pigeon pea producing district - Kalaburagi, the area of this pulse has reached 5.35 lakh hectares, while in the future it can improve and reach 6 lakh hectares because the sowing process is still going on in some areas.
But due to weak domestic market prices, some traditional pigeon pea producing farmers have turned to maize, cotton and sugarcane this time.
The President of Karnataka Pradesh Red Gram Growers Association located in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) says that due to the soft environment in the market prices, there may be a decline in the production area of pigeon pea this time.
In Kalaburagi, its price has come down to between Rs 5500-6700 per quintal, which is much below the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7550 per quintal for the 2024-25 season and the MSP of Rs 8000 per quintal announced for the next season (2025-26).