Currently area under groundnut is at 16.30 lakh hectares.
Excessive rain in Saurasthra and many costal areas seems to have taken its toll in groundnut acreage in Gujarat, the leading groundnut producing states in the country. Area under groundnut cultivation likely to fall by 1 to 2 lakh hectares in 2009-10 as compared to last fiscal.
The latest data available with the state agriculture department show that groundnut acreage in Gujarat stood at 16.30 lakh hectares as on July end, which is far below the level of 17.55 lakh hectares during the Kharif season of 2008-09. "Sowing period for groundnut has already passed and we dont see any significant rise in area under groundnut crop now", said government officials.
After a delay of couple weeks, heavy downpour in July not only affected the progress of sowing but also eroded groundnut sowing in some parts of the state. "In the wake of constant rainfall in Saurashra and many costal areas of the state, farmers did not hazard to take up groundnut crop. Apart from this, rains washed away groundnut sowing in 1 lakh hectares in Junagadh, Probandar and Jamnagar", said Govind Patel, former chairman, Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA)
"Gujarat's normal groudnut acreage is 17.50 to 18 lakh hectares. However, there will be a decline a 2 lakh hectares this year", he added. Farmers in these areas are now turning towards cotton cultivation leading to a fall in groundnut acreage. Gujarat produces around 21 to 22 lakh tonnes of groundnut in 2008-09
"Nearly 10 per cent groundnut acreage might have diverted to cotton", said Monik Vora, a Rajkot-based groundnut broker and commission agent.
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High prices of cotton is also another reason for farmers to opt for cotton crop. "Cotton offered handsome return to farmers in 2008-09, while this was not the case in groundnut as demand took a hit and exports of HPS groundnut to Europe was also affected due to aflatoxin problem.
The shift to cotton is evident from the fact, it is cotton acreage is likely to cross 25 lakh hectares mark in 2009-10 as compared to 24 lakh previous fiscal.