Oilseed Area Shrinks on Lower Sesame and Soybean Sowing
09-Sep-2025 04:00 PM
New Delhi. Although the sowing area of castor has increased this time as compared to last year and there has been a slight improvement in the area of groundnut and niger seed, but there has been a decline in the area of soybean, sesame and sunflower, due to which the total production area of Kharif period oilseed crops has lagged far behind last year.
According to the latest data of the Union Agriculture Ministry, during the current Kharif season, till September 5, compared to last year, the total production area of oilseed crops at the national level has decreased by 5.23 lakh hectares from 192.21 lakh hectares to 186.98 lakh hectares.
Under this, the production area of soybean has slipped by 5.72 lakh hectares from 126.04 lakh hectares to 120.32 lakh hectares, the sowing area of sesame has fallen from 10.62 lakh hectares to 10.14 lakh hectares and the area of sunflower has slipped from 71 thousand hectares to 64 thousand hectares.
On the other hand, during the period under review, the production area of groundnut improved from 47.49 lakh hectares to 47.53 lakh hectares, the area of Niger seed increased from 60 thousand hectares to 66 thousand hectares and the area of castor jumped from 6.69 lakh hectares to 7.64 lakh hectares.
It is worth noting that castor is considered a non-edible or industrial grade oilseed, while Niger seed is mainly used as bird feed.
The possibility of a decline in the production area of soybean was already being expressed as its wholesale market price remained below the government support price throughout the season and farmers did not get attractive income.
Although the government procured a record quantity of soybean from farmers at the minimum support price during the Kharif marketing season of 2024-25, the producers had to struggle a lot to sell the remaining stock.
This time, a decrease in soybean sowing area has been reported in all the three top producing states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.