Dynamics of Soybean Production in Different Districts of Madhya Pradesh

Looking at the importance of soybean in Madhya Pradesh, the present paper has studied the dynamics of its production in 16 major soybean-growing districts of the state using time series secondary data for the period 1980 to 2010 by analysing the growth and variability in area, production and productivity of soybean. Besides the overall period, study was conducted during 4 sub-periods, viz. 1981–1990 (1980s), 1991–2000 (1990s) and 2001–2010 (2000s) also. The growth is area was found positive and significant in all the periods and in all the major soybean-growing districts, except in Raisen and Betul during 1990s, and in Indore and Sehore during 2000s, The growth in production was also positive and significant in all the districts and in all the periods except in Dhar, Hoshangabad, Raisen and Ujjain during 1990s and Sehore and Hoshangabad during 2000s. It has been observed that variability in production has declined with time; it was 77.0 per cent during the 1980s and declined to 37.6 per cent during 1990s and further to 32.4 per cent during 2000s. The soybean being more profitable, is preferred by the farmers and this has changed the cropping pattern in the area. Despite having high yield, the state has yet to achieve the yield potential of 18q/ha at farmers’ fields. Hence, there is need to identify the thrust areas for breaking the yield barriers at farmers’ level.