Indian farmers switch from rapeseed to other crops as temperatures rise

MUMBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - India’s rapeseed and mustard plantings are set to fall despite higher prices as above-average temperatures during the sowing season prompt farmers to switch to crops that are less affected by the heat and offer equally good returns, industry officials told Reuters. The lower output of India’s main winter oilseed crop could force the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils to increase expensive overseas purchases of cooking oils such as palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil to meet rising demand. Temperatures remained higher than normal in October and the first three weeks of November, which was not good for the crop, said Anil Chatar, a leading trader in Jaipur in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, the country’s biggest rapeseed producer. “In many places, the early crops did not germinate, so farmers ended up switching to other crops,” he said. In Rajasthan, the maximum temperature in major growing districts has been 2 to 7 degrees Celsius above ...