NEW DELHI: While the spiralling onion prices jolted the coalition government in Maharashtra during the Lok recently concluded Sabha elections, it is the plummeting soybean price that is set to impact it in the upcoming assembly polls.The wholesale price of soybean has crashed to a 10-year low in August. Ranging from Rs 3,200 to 3700 per quintal across different mandis of the state, the soybean prices were way below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) declared by the Union government for 2024.The Centre had increased the MSP of soybean for the 2024-25 kharif crop marketing season to Rs 4,892 per quintal, an increase by `292 from the `4,600 per quintal during the season before.The current drop of 35 per cent in soybean prices (as compared to the MSP), is set to incur Rs 1,000-1,500 per quintal lesser income to the farmers.According to the Soybean Processor Association of India (SOPA), the soybean prices have hit a 10-year low. The MSP was at Rs 2,900 per quintal 10 years ago.The crash in prices may not augur well for the state government, which is set to face an assembly election in November. According to Anil Ghanwat, a farmer leader and member of the Supreme-Court appointed committee on MSP, “Vidharbha and Marathwada regions consist of around 80 assembly constituencies where a large number of farmers grow soybean as their main source of livelihood.” The farmers in the region have the potential to impact poll outcomes the way onion farmers could during the general elections. During the Lok Sabha polls, restrictions on onion exports had cost the ruling coalition dearly. They lost all seats in the onion-growing region.Ghanwat said the government policy of promoting import of cheap soybean and other edible oils has impacted domestic prices. “Farmers have been storing soybean from last year in the hope of getting better prices. But the government has removed import duty, leading to cheap imports and the eventual nose-diving of domestic prices,” Ghanwat said.
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