Sunflower area falls 64% on deficient rains, farmers’ shift to other lucrative crops

The area under sunflower has been badly impacted this kharif season due to deficient rains in the key producing regions and farmers preferring to plant other competing crops such as maize and pulses. The sunflower coverage is down 64 per cent as of August 18 at 0.66 lakh hectares (lh) against 1.85 lh a year ago, as per the Agriculture Ministry data.

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The sharp decline in acreage has mainly been witnessed in the largest producing State of Karnataka as the key growing regions in the State have been impacted by delayed monsoon and deficient rains. Also, sunflower growers, who got poor compensation in the previous season on account of market prices ruling below the minimum support price (MSP), have chosen to plant maize and pulses, a move that has impacted the area under oilseed in Karnataka, sources said. As against 1.59 lh last year, sunflower has been planted in only about 0.59 lh in Karnataka this year.

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South interior Karnataka has received 27 per cent less rains on a cumulative basis this monsoon, while the shortfall has been six per cent in north interior Karnataka. Adjoining meteorological subdivision of Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh has cumulative deficit of 30 per cent. In Andhra, the acreage is down to 0.02 lh compared with 0.05 lh a year ago. Tamil Nadu has witnessed a decline in sunflower acreage at 0.01 lh against 0.03 lh a year ago.

All eyes on rabi

Sunflower is largely a rainfed crop. “The decline in acreage is mainly due to the less rainfall in the growing areas. The expectation is that the area will improve in the rabi season,” said M S Uma, professor and head of All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Sunflower, University of Agricultural Sciences – Bengaluru. Sunflower hybrid KBSH-78 released by UAS-B in 2020 is getting popular in West Bengal and Odisha and North Eastern states, where the cultivation is taken up in paddy fallows during rabi season, and KBSH-85, which has higher oil content was released last year, she said.

The Centre has declared a MSP of ₹6,760 per quintal of sunflower seed for the 2023-24 kharif marketing season, an increase of ₹360 over the previous season.

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Trade sources said unlike maize, which is an easy crop and has an assured market, sunflower is prone to virus attacks and diseases and lacks the procurement support. Moreover, with maize prices ruling over ₹2,000 a quintal coupled with the prevailing bullish price trend in pulses crops, a section of farmers have shifted from sunflower. Sunflower seeds sold by the State agencies found no takers this year and the prices of two kg seed packet was sold at around ₹1,000 compared with ₹3,000 a year ago, they said.

India’s sunflower seed production, which touched a low of 2.13 lt during 2019-20, has rebounded since then to 3.75 lt in 2022-23, as per the third advance estimates. Sunflower is grown in all the three cropping seasons — kharif, rabi and summer, while kharif accounts for a bulk of the output.

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