Wide Gap Between Government and SOPA Soybean Area Data
16-Sep-2025 08:23 PM
New Delhi. After the sowing campaign of soybean, a major oilseed crop of Kharif season, is over, the picture of the area that is emerging now is seeing a huge difference of about 5 lakh hectares in the data of the Union Agriculture Ministry and the Indore-based organization - Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA). However, both have estimated a decline in soybean acreage this time as compared to last year.
According to the Union Agriculture Ministry, during the current Kharif season, the production area of soybean at the national level has come down to 120.43 lakh hectares, which had reached 129.57 lakh hectares last year.
On the other hand, SOPA believes that last year the soybean sown area was 118.32 lakh hectares, which has fallen to 115.66 lakh hectares this time.
For the current Kharif season, the soybean production area has been officially estimated at 51.20 lakh hectares in Madhya Pradesh, 49.65 lakh hectares in Maharashtra, 9.83 lakh hectares in Rajasthan, 4.22 lakh hectares in Karnataka, 2.78 lakh hectares in Gujarat, 1.45 lakh hectares in Telangana, 27 thousand hectares in Chhattisgarh and 1.04 lakh hectares in other states.
On the other hand, SOPA has estimated 48.64 lakh hectares in Madhya Pradesh, 48.20 lakh hectares in Maharashtra and 9.07 lakh hectares in Rajasthan, while in the remaining states the area is equal to the official figures.
According to SOPA, the condition of soybean crop is different in the top producing states. In Madhya Pradesh, 6 percent of the crop has been completely destroyed, while in 15 percent its condition is weak, in 70 percent it is normal and in 9 percent it is encouraging.
Similarly, in Maharashtra, 8 percent of soybean crop is completely damaged, 11 percent is weak, 60 percent is normal and 21 percent is in excellent condition.
In Rajasthan, 8% of the crop was destroyed while the condition of 44% is very weak. In the remaining 38%, the crop is estimated to be normal and in 10% area, the condition is encouraging.