Summer groundnut sowing up by 56%

GAD data shows 177, 000 hectares covered under groundnut crop so far

Leaning back on the tried and tested cash crop, farmers in Gujarat have increased summer groundnut sowing by over 50 per cent this year. Compare to last year's total summer groundnut sowing the state has covered almost 77 per cent this year.

As per data provided by Gujarat Agriculture Department (GAD) so far 177, 000 hectares area has been covered under groundnut crop which was 114, 000 hectares in 2011 at this time. Hence, compared to last year summer groundnut sowing in 2012 has increased by 56 per cent.

"Good availability of water for irrigation and lucrative return attracts farmers to opt for groundnut crop this year. In fact, groundnut sowing may cross over 200,000 hectares this year," said JH Suthar, deputy director, GAD.

Currently, due to good export demand farmers are receiving lucrative prices of groundnut. Already during the current season groundnut has been reaping good return for farmers. As of now, groundnut is being traded at Rs 77,000-78,000 per tonne for exports. At Rajkot and Junagadh itself, average price of groundnut has been noted between Rs 850-1050 per 20 kg.

"The present weather condition has been favorable for summer groundnut crop. So far there have been no signs for any diseases or crop damage," said NC Patel, Vice Chancellor, Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU).

This, despite the fact that the summer crop sowing began a bit late as winter prolonged till late February and early March. "However as far as groundnut is concern, sowing area has increased mainly in Saurashtra area as farmers received good price for Kharif groundnut," Patel added.

Meanwhile, JAU has been working on developing new variety of groundnut in the state. Last year the agri varsity developed two new varieties of groundnut namely GJB-17 and GJB-22. According to JAU, these two varieties are not yet so popular among farmers since most of them prefer G-20 groundnut seed for summer crop sowing.