Groundnut output to rise 70 pc to 54.8 LT in Kharif season

India's groundnut production is estimated to rise by 70 per cent to 54.80 lakh tonnes during this year's Kharif season, driven by a bumper output in Gujarat.
The country had produced 32.30 lakh tonnes in the Kharif season last year, according to edible oil industry body Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).
Groundnut is one of the major crops of kharif season and Gujarat is a prominent producer.
Based on the crop survey conducted by SEA, this year kharif groundnut crop is estimated at 54.80 lakh tonnes as against 32.30 lakh tonnes in 2015-16, up 70 per cent.
Groundnut acreage has increased to 47.08 lakh hectares from 36.83 lakh hectares in last Kharif, while yield is estimated to rise at 1,166 kg per hectare from 877 kg per hectare.

Among the states, Gujarat is expected to almost double harvest to 29.40 lakh tonnes during the season, from 14.95 lakh tonnes in the last season.

"The rainfall was utmost satisfactory and timely and hardly any crop disease, resulted into bumper crop and nearly doubled from last year's level to 29.40 lakh tonnes.
"The acreage under kharif groundnut in Gujarat increased by 27 per cent to 16.42 lakh hectare from 12.95 lakh hectare last year and yield has increased by 55 per cent to 1,790 kgs. per hectare against 1,155 kg/ha last year," SEA said.
SEA Groundnut Promotion Council has been conducting a survey for the past nine years to assess the size and quality of the groundnut crop.

Groundnut production in Rajasthan is estimated at 8 lakh tonnes in Kharif 2016, followed by Andhra Pradesh/Telangana at 5.7 lakh tonnes.