Arvind Singh Rathore was born in 1989, which was the year before his grandfather, (late) Thakur Datar Singh Rathore, and his father, Thakur Santosh Singh Rathore, began cultivating soybean on their ancestral farmland in Muradpura, a village on the outskirts of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The oilseed was quite new to farmers in this area even though others in the State had been sowing it as far back as the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arvind grew up helping his family earn a living growing soybean. For about 15 years now, he has been managing soybean on 25 acres of land, with the help of his father. But something has changed. The young farmer, also a district leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-supported Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, now wants to leave agriculture and look for another job in another sector. The reasons are many.
Even as the harvesting of soybean was going on, he found time to talk about some of the reasons. He said youngsters like him were no longer interested in farming due to multiple issues that ranged from climate change to the import-export policies of the Union Government. “The yield is very low this time,” he said. “We get two quintals to 2.5 quintals per acre now. There was a time when we used to get more than four quintals. This is less than half of what my grandfather and father used to get. The price is also almost a ₹1,000 less than what we used to get 15 years ago. We do not have any other alternative crops here as maize, a popular alternate crop, is what the nilgai likes.” The nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) is an antelope species which farmers consider to be a nuisance as it destroys crops, Arvind pointed out.
Arvind has also been reaching out to his farmer friends on the impact that the possible import of soybean from the United States could have. “The government is already importing soybean oil and other edible oils. But if soybean is imported from the U.S., our crisis will deepen. The government should set its import-export policy right,” he says.
The MSP issue
There is another issue that he and other farmer leaders are engaged with, which is proper implementation of the minimum support price (MSP) and procurement by the government in local markets. In the ongoing kharif season, the government had announced ₹5,328 as the MSP for a quintal of soybean. But in the Chhawani grain market of Indore, farmers have been selling their produce for as low as ₹ 3,000 per quintal. According to Arvind, “The government had promised MSP, but we are not getting even half the MSP after the harvest. Soybean cultivation gives us huge losses. Both the Centre and State governments claim that they have doubled the income of farmers. The reality on the ground is quite the opposite. Farmers are leaving agriculture. They are compelled to do it to protect their land.”
The harvesting of soy crop in the Murad Pura area in Madhya Pradesh
| Photo Credit:
R.V. Moorthy
The Union Government, in a statement on October 6, 2025, had said that the country’s overall oilseed sowing area, during the 2025 kharif season, had decreased by 10.62 lakh hectares compared to the previous year. The decrease in soybean alone was 9.1 lakh hectares. Madhya Pradesh is India’s largest soybean producer — over 40% — harvesting about 52 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) from about 53 lakh hectares.
Dilip Singh is another farmer in the neighbourhood who has been cultivating soybean since 1997. He too agreed with Arvind that farmers are not recovering even the input cost which is the reason for the decrease in cultivation. Their forebears used to cultivate coarse cereals, millets and pulses earlier but switched to soybean based on what the government presented to them — soybean cultivation was linked to ensuring self-reliance in edible oil requirements and in meeting the protein needs of a huge population dependent on vegetarian food.
Upset with the change in fortunes, Dilip rued the shift to soybean. “Now the prices of millets and pulses have increased and the prices of soybean have come down. We should not have shifted to soybean,” he said. In 2014, he used to get between ₹4,200 and ₹4,500 for a quintal of soybean. “This season, I sold soybean for ₹3,300 and ₹3,500 a quintal. If it is very good quality, then it will get ₹4,000. But no one is buying at the MSP rate,” he said.
Both Arvind and Dilip said the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (price difference payment scheme) announced by the government was no solution.
“For one acre, I have to spend ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 as input cost. The harvest machine itself costs ₹2,500 to ₹3,000 to run per acre. The Bhavantar Yojana is a fraud being played on farmers as the model price and average price are different. The government says something and does something else. This is duplicity,” Arvind lamented.
The threat of imports
Sher Singh Thakur, another farmer, said the government should stop any plan to import soybean. “The officials should promote value addition and help the farmer. They should first think about the farmer. Every farmer is facing losses. The government is importing edible oil. But farmers here are unable to sell their soybean at a decent price. We have to take a loan for input costs and 70% of the farmers depend on loans,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA), D.N. Pathak, has seen both the growth and the crisis in the soybean sector. He believes that any shortage in its cultivation will have a direct impact on protein availability as soybean in India is not an oilseed crop. Pathak said, “Only 18% or 19% of the soybean is used to make oil. It is basically a protein crop.” He said SOPA has been requesting the government to ensure that farmers get the correct price. “Productivity is low. It has been low for the last 30 to 40 years. It has not improved. A lot needs to be done to improve productivity. The industry should also work there. The government should certainly make efforts,” he said.
Pathak said that talk about the import of soybean was being floated by an import lobby with vested interests. “They are asking why do we grow soybean? This is a very dangerous story being put forth by some vested interests… the people who want to export soybean in India, and the people who want to import soybean to India. For them it is business. If that happens, the industry will be dead. And the farmer will also be dead.”
He said, “The government has to understand this. We have about 180 plants for extracting soybean oil and for making soybean meal. All of them will have to be closed down. We have about ₹6 billion to ₹7 billion worth of investment. All this will go away. Banks will write off the loans. I don’t know what farmers will do. Whatever they grow in this area instead of soybean … the price of that product will crash as soybean is cultivated in a huge area. It is actually scary.”
A trained professional in electronics, Pathak joined SOPA in 1994, as he had a deep interest in agriculture. It comes as no surprise as his family of farmers is from Uttar Pradesh. “We need about 7 million tonnes to 8 million tonnes of soybean meal,” he says. “This means that we must crush about 100 lakh tonnes of soybean, which is our production now. If we grow more, we export. But we cannot compete because our MSP is so high. So, if somebody were to bring soybean from the U.S., what will happen to this soybean which our farmers grow? Or is there a suggestion that we should not grow soybean? U.S. soybean is roughly $380 a tonne. Our soybean is $620 per tonne. So should we bring U.S. soybean at $380?”
He raises more questions. “Then who will buy the local soybean? What will the farmer do? The whole import talk is absolutely ridiculous,” says a visibly angry Pathak. “I don’t know why it should even happen. Our processors are mainly into oil extraction and making soybean meal. They cannot compete with U.S. processors.”
Kedar Sirohi is a member of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and president of the Congress party’s farmer cell in Madhya Pradesh. According to him, the State’s economy is dependent on soybean. “The production has been coming down of late. Substandard seeds is one of the main reasons. This year, it is particularly low. Sowing has been done across approximately 52 lakh hectares to 53 lakh hectares. But production will be very low in at least 30 lakh hectares. Farmers are likely to get up to 2 quintals to 2.5 quintals an acre,” he said, adding that total production from the State will be at least 20 LMT less, from about 52 LMT-55 LMT, which was the average production rate. He said the market prices at present is 35% to 40% less than MSP. “Soybean is the lifeline of the farmers of Madhya Pradesh. If the yield increases and the proper price is given, it will help farmers. Farmers do not have any tools for price mitigation. Industries are in crisis and this crisis is percolating to farmers. All other countries provide heavy subsidies to farmers and industry. But here, both the sections do not enjoy any subsidies,” he claimed.
The advent of soybean in the State
In the 1980s, Madhya Pradesh first tried black soybean. The present variety, which is yellow soybean, reached farms by the first decade of 2000. Earlier, cooperative societies used to procure soybean till the end of the 1990s and production was good too. Kedar said, “M.P.’s farmers stood on their legs with soybean farming. The losses only began in the last 10 to 15 years. The biggest issue was the seeds. Low quality seeds resulted in a decrease in production and companies began to queue up offering fertilizers and pesticides to enhance production. But this did not work. Rather than it being from lab to land, seeds are coming from market to land,” he said.
When asked about the Bhavantar scheme, he said, “It is a ‘copy paste exercise’ of the price loss coverage of the United States Department of Agriculture, where farmers are given financial support when the prices of their products fell low or their revenue decreased. There is no transparency in fixing the model price.”
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella organisation of a number farmers’ outfits, in which Sirohi is a member, is opposed to the policies of the State and Union Governments, particularly in the soybean sector. The Morcha claims to have the backing of a lot of farmers such as Arvind who are associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the issues they take up. They have also been raising issues such as suicides by soybean farmers. One of their major campaigns is against the possibility of the import of soybean and soybean meal from the U.S. The SKM cited a lack of transparency in discussions and the reluctance of governments to state that agriculture and agri markets are not part of any such negotiations.
They also point towards recent agreements between India and the United Kingdom and the I2U2, on integrated agricultural facilities across India. The SKM had demanded that the Centre scrap all trade negotiations that will impact the lives of farmers. SOPA had also sent a letter to the Centre highlighting the point that the country has sufficient stocks of soybean meal to meet domestic demand and that allowing imports will have “devastating consequences” for India’s agriculture sector.
Arun Chauhan, leader of the All India Kisan Sabha, a constituent of SKM, said that the decrease in production would be about 25% when compared to last year. “There is huge concern among farmers about U.S. imports. This has resulted in decreased cultivation. Farmers fear that that their soybean will not be valued if cheap soybean is imported from the U.S. is dumped in Indian markets. Even otherwise, this year, farmers are likely to face losses worth ₹300 crore in the State; a bulk of this will be from soybean. We have urged the government to intervene. The SKM recently met all District Collectors in an attempt to demand compensation for farmers. Arun said, “We will hold a protest in Bhopal on October 27 raising the issues of farmers who are cultivating soybean and other crops.”
Another farmer, Kailash Parthani, has been a trader for 35 years at the Chhawani grain market. Like Pathak, he has also seen the ups and downs of soybean. He purchases soybean from farmers for processors such as the Patanjali group. He said, “Cultivation is down and yield is less. Traders are also worried about the future of soybean. The Bhavantar scheme is not helping farmers. Unless soybean meal is exported, it will be difficult to survive. If U.S. soybean comes here, it will be a double blow,” he said. Kailash said some farmers are keeping soybean for three to four years expecting that the prices will improve as export picks up. According to SOPA, on an average, India exports about two million tonnes of soybean meal; in this season, it could go down by 1.8 million tonnes. SOPA states that the reason for lack of demand for Indian soybean is its higher price.
The Chhawani market is one of the biggest soybean markets in India. During the season, traders handle about 2,000 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes of soybean a month. Said Kailash, “Traders of this market brought yellow soybean and provided it to farmers for cultivation after the 1990s. The best time was between 1995 to 2015 when we used to get 6,000 tonnes per month.”
Varun, a former secretary of the market, nodded in agreement. According to him, traders in the market deal with buyers from across the country. “We have a membership of about 1,500 traders. There are a lot of workers too in this market. The fluctuations in the soybean market have impacted traders. They are losing revenue. Such fluctuations are basically from the policies of the government. The import policy of the government is a problem. If the government allows imports of soybean, it will be a major problem.”
An average trader in the market makes about ₹70,000 per month. “Import will act against both the trader and the farmer. It is against Atmanibharta,” he said.
Manoj Kala, president of the market, has a clear demand. He wants the government to ensure MSP to farmers and that the de-oiled cake of soybean should be procured by the government.
A reposing of faith in soybean
In another part of Indore, despite the sentiment and arguments expressed from the ground, the scientific community has not lost hope in soybean and its future. The Director of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)’s Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Kunwar Harendra Singh said: “From only 30,000 hectares during the 1970s, the country has now more than 12 million hectares under soybean cultivation. You will not see any other crop having expanded in such a way. So this is the big achievement as far as this crop is concerned.”
He said that the present decrease in the area of sowing is primarily due to a decline in prices. “The government has been increasing the MSP, but the market rates were declining very fast. And then, other options like maize are in demand,” he said. “This is the only plant based group which has 40% protein… This needs the attention of the government and also different industries to create the awareness on how to use this good quality protein,” he added, pointing to the need for more research on the use of soybean as a human food.
Mahavir Prasad Sharma, his colleague at the institute, said there is an incubation centre for start-ups in the institute that helps entrepreneurs develop soybean-based food products. A focus area is developing products that will be a ‘palate pleaser’ as far as youngsters are concerned.
Said Kunwar, “The crop basically belongs to China, and in India earlier, only a few States such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some of the northeastern States used to cultivate it. “More than 90% of soya is being used for cattle feed. We do not have value-added products. We can make different nutritional powders from this. But the industry has to come forward for that.”
Farmers like Arvind are in touch with scientists like Kunwar to understand the latest developments in soybean cultivation and its processing. Arvind, however, said that had ICAR provided them with adequate quantity of good seeds, they would not have depended on private seed suppliers, whom they cannot trust.
