Wide Gap Between Government and SOPA Soybean Acreage Data
13-Aug-2025 08:52 PM
New Delhi. Sowing of soybean, the most important oilseed crop of the Kharif season, has reached its final stage. According to the Union Agriculture Ministry,
its production area reached 119.51 lakh hectares, while the report of Indore-based organization - Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) shows that the actual sowing area could reach only 115.21 lakh hectares. In this way, a huge difference of 4.30 lakh hectares is being seen between the official and SOPA figures.
This difference is mainly in the three top producing states - Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, while there is no difference in the sowing area figures of the remaining producing states.
The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the soybean production area in Madhya Pradesh to be 51.17 lakh hectares, while SOPA has given the figure of 48.64 lakh hectares.
Similarly, the official figure of sowing area for soybean in Maharashtra is 49.26 lakh hectares and SOPA's figure is 48.20 lakh hectares. The official figure of soybean production area in Rajasthan is 9.78 lakh hectares, while SOPA's figure is only 9.07 lakh hectares.
In other producing states, soybean sowing area has reached 1.42 lakh hectares in Telangana, 4.22 lakh hectares in Karnataka, 13,500 hectares in Chhattisgarh and 2.73 lakh hectares in Gujarat, while soybean has been cultivated in 79 thousand hectares in the remaining states. The official and SOPA sowing figures of these producing states are the same.
It is noteworthy that in the Kharif season of the year 2024 also, a difference of more than 11 lakh hectares was seen in the sowing area figures. The official figure was 129.57 lakh hectares and SOPA's figure was 118.32 lakh hectares.
In fact, for the current season also, SOPA's figure for soybean sowing area is based on a survey report. SOPA conducted a comprehensive survey of soybean sown area and crop condition in about 89 lakh hectares by travelling about 4200 km in 38 districts in the three top producing states during 4 to 9 August 2025. Under this,
the condition of the crop was assessed in 46.60 lakh hectares in 22 districts of Madhya Pradesh, 34.90 lakh hectares in 11 districts of Maharashtra and 7.50 lakh hectares in 5 districts of Rajasthan. It revealed that the soybean sown area has declined by 3.11 lakh hectares or 2.63 percent compared to last year.