Indian farmers reduce rapeseed area due to rising temperatures

India’s rapeseed and mustard acreage is expected to fall despite high prices as above-average temperatures this planting season prompt farmers to switch to crops that are less susceptible to heat stress and offer similar returns, Reuters reported, citing industry officials. A decline in rapeseed production, India’s main oilseed crop, could force the world’s largest importer of vegetable oils to boost purchases of edible vegetable oils such as palm, soybean and sunflower to meet growing demand. Temperatures remained above normal in October and November, which was not good for the crop, according to Anil Chattar, a leading trader in Rajasthan, the country’s largest rapeseed producer. “Early crops failed to germinate in many places,” he said. According to the meteorological department, temperatures have been 2-7 degrees Celsius above normal in key rapeseed producing areas in the last few weeks. Vedpal Tyagi, a farmer, said he had reduced his rapeseed area to 10 acres in October from ...