SOPA Urges Agri Minister to Launch Bhavantar Yojana for Soybean
06-Sep-2025 05:37 PM
Indore. Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA), an important organization of the indigenous vegetable oil industry and trade sector, has urged the Union Agriculture Minister to start Bhavantar Payment Scheme instead of Price Support Scheme (PSS) for soybean in the marketing season 2025-26 (October-September).
In a letter sent by the President of SOPA to the Union Agriculture Minister, it has been said that the minimum support price (MSP) of soybean was fixed at Rs 4892 per quintal for the marketing season of 2024-25, but due to its wholesale market price being much lower than that,
government agencies had to purchase about 20 lakh tonnes of soybean at MSP. On top of this, the actual cost became very high after adding administrative expenses, storage and transportation expenses, wastage, moisture loss and commission etc.
Now government agencies like NAFED and NCCF have to sell their stock of soybean in the open market at a discount of about Rs 10,000 per tonne against the cost, due to which the government is incurring a loss of about Rs 2000 crore.
According to the letter of SOPA, the minimum support price of soybean has been increased to Rs 5328 per quintal for the 2025-26 season, but the condition of the mandis may remain the same as before.
Due to the reduction in customs duty, the price of soybean DOC is running soft due to the rapidly increasing demand for soybean oil and DDGS.
If this situation remains, then in the 2025-26 season, the government may be forced to buy soybean from farmers at MSP in about double the quantity as compared to the 2024-25 season.
This can increase the loss of the government to around Rs 5000 crore. In view of this, the government should implement the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana for soybean instead of direct mandi purchase.
This will transfer the difference between the market price and MSP to the farmers' bank accounts and provide them immediate relief.
On the other hand, the government's expenditure will also decrease by about 50 percent. A scheme should be prepared to benefit only the real farmers.