The Hindu Business Line : Groundnut workshop to focus on hiking output, export

GROUNDNUT is the most important of the nine major oilseed crops cultivated in the country. Despite its high content of both oil and protein, groundnut development and attention to issues affecting the crop have remained less than satisfactory in recent years.

As part of its silver jubilee celebration, the National Groundnut Research Centre (NRCG) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is organising a national symposium on `Enhancing productivity of groundnut for sustaining food and nutrition security' at Junagadh, Gujarat.

The theme of the symposium is to discuss conventional and non-conventional approaches to improvement in groundnut including water use efficiency, IPM and INM systems, organic farming, post-harvest technology as well as groundnut processing, value-addition and export promotion and issues related thereto.

Top farm scientists in the country as also those from industry and trade are expected to participate in the three-day symposium beginning October 11. According to Dr M.S. Basu, NRCG Director, the meeting would come up with a set of recommendations for strengthening groundnut with varied uses as food, feed and fuel.

Saurashtra region of Gujarat is the groundnut bowl of the country. Output in the region has been rather erratic in recent years because of weather aberrations.