Scientists of Agriculture Economics Department of Pantnagar University have forecast that the farmers will get a price of upto Rs 3,600 per quintal for their mustard/toria produce in the forthcoming season. This forecast has been made under the National Agriculture Innovation Project (NAIP) on establishing and networking of market intelligence centres in India by the department. One of the objectives of this project is to make price forecasts well in advance of sowing of selected agricultural commodities and during harvesting.
Principal investigator of the project Dr Anil Kumar, along with other scientists conducted market survey of Rudrapur regulated market, a major market for mustard/toria in Uttarakhand, and analysed the data on market prices which prevailed for last 14 years (1998-2012) in this market.
The results of econometric analysis showed that the wholesale prices of mustard/toria in Rudrapur market would be in the range of Rs 3,500-3,600 per quintal during January to March 2014. The scientists have, therefore, advised the farmers, who wish to take up mustard cultivation in the coming season on their farms, to decide the area under crop considering forecasted prices of mustard/toria as well as other conditions suitable for the crop.
The sowing of mustard/toria starts in September and continues till the end of December. Rajasthan is the largest producer of mustard/toria in India contributing 54 per cent to the country’s total production followed by Punjab and Haryana together contributing 14 per cent.
Other major producers of mustard/toria seed in India are Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh (13 per cent) and Gujarat (7 per cent). The main regions where mustard/toria is cultivated in Uttarakhand are Bazpur, Kiccha, Gadarpur and Rudrapur. The sowing of these crops in Udham Singh Nagar district starts from September and ends till November. Mustard/toria is a 120-day crop and its harvesting starts from the end of December.