Anticipation of good prices and availability of water has encouraged farmers in Gujarat to go for early sowing of groundnut as there has been ten-fold increase in pre-monsoon sowing of peanuts during the year 2020 compared to previous year. As per the official data of the state agriculture department, till May-end last year, pre-monsoon or pre-kharif groundnut sowing was hardly on 1,319 hectare land. During the current year, groundnut sowing has already crossed 13,900 hectare mark by the beginning of June, indicating possibility of massive sowing of groundnut in Gujarat.
“Groundnut growers received healthy rates of their produce due to higher MSP of Rs 1,018 per 20 kg set by the central government in 2019-20. Besides MSP, farmers also fetched good prices in open markets. On the top of it, due to extended monsoon, water is still available in Saurashtra and north Gujarat regions where generally groundnut is being grown,” said Samir Shah, president of Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA).
Shah also said that central government had put restrictions on palm oil imports from Malaysia and Indonesia for some period earlier this year, which translated into demand of local oilseeds, including that of groundnut. Obviously, farmers got some share in the pie in the form of increased groundnut prices, he added. The unprecedented sowing of groundnut not only suggests availability of water but also indicates that farmers are shifting from cotton to groundnut, said CM Patel, joint director of agriculture.
In 2019-20, cotton growers faced a lot of pre-harvest as well as post-harvest difficulties. Due to the menace of pink-boll-worm pest, cotton crop was damaged in some parts of Saurashtra region. Cotton growers faced difficulties to sell their produce after the outbreak of corona virus pandemic due to cancellation of export orders. After the lockdown, even local demand of cotton plummeted. Cotton growers got some respite from Cotton Corporation of India which kept on buying from them during lockdown period.
Till the beginning of June, pre-kharif cotton sowing is 12,600 hectare in Gujarat compared to last year’s 13,100 hectare. Another reason for higher sowing of groundnut is change in farmers’ thought process, opines a senior official, adding that instead of non-food crops like cotton, castor and others, many of them prefer food crops, including that of groundnut which remained in demand even during the lockdown period.