This kharif season, Gujarat has witnessed a sharp surge in groundnut sowing. The sowing figures shared by the State’s agriculture department indicated that groundnut has been sown on over 6.5 lakh hectares so far as against 22,8000 hectares reported in the same period last year.

“The sharp surge in groundnut sowing is primarily due to improved availability of water and last year’s attractive prices of the oilseed over other kharif crops,” informed an agriculture department official.

The data showed kharif groundnut sowing has been completed on 6,56,698 hectares till June 15, whereas it was 22,875 hectares on the same day last year. The three-year average acreage for groundnut in the State is 15,40,078 hectares.

Saurashtra region has witnessed groundnut sowing on 6,41,500 hectares for the period, while North Gujarat has cultivated the oilseed on 12,500 hectares so far.

Notably, reports indicate Rajasthan has also seen sharp surge in groundnut sowing at about 6.7 lakh hectares so far, as against about 4,900 hectares reported during the same period last year.

Other major kharif crops include cotton, which has also seen a rise in sowing over last year but not as much as groundnut. Cotton acreage was reported to be 6,05,690 hectares, as against 1,60,914 hectares last year for the same period.

Gujarat has completed total sowing on 13,94,202 hectares, which is about 16 per cent coverage of the total kharif sowing of 84,90,070 hectares.

Right ahead of the monsoon showers, the farmers had rushed to get groundnut seeds indicating their anticipation of better prices. This had pushed up the groundnut seed prices in the market from ₹2,000 to ₹2,800 for a 30 kg pack.

Groundnut prices in the spot markets rose as high as ₹6,255 per quintal, as against the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹5,090 per quintal for the season 2019-20. However, for the current 2020-21 season, the Centre has hiked the MSP to ₹5,275 per quintal, giving further support to prices.

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