The Hindu Business Line : New groundnut variety kindles hope for farmers in Anantapur

THE farmers in Anantapur district, which records a very low rainfall, dare droughts by depending more on groundnut that can withstand even a 50-day dry spell.

The crop gets the farmers nuts and fodder to animals, coming to the rescue of the farming community in the district that records just an average 521 mm of rainfall. Some parts of the district get still lower rainfall of 220 mm in bad years.

Every year, on an average, farmers grow groundnut in eight lakh hectares, and in good years, this can go up to one million hectares, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the cultivated area in the district.

Though improved varieties are available, the farmers have been using TMV2 variety since 1940s. The farmers feel the improved varieties did not meet their specific needs.

But thanks to an effort by the scientists of Icrisat (International Crops Research Institute Semi-Arid Tropics), the farmers now have access to a variety, ICGV 91114, that better suits the local needs. "The farmers have changed the cropping pattern over the decades due to poor rains, prolonged dry spells and frequent crop failures," according to Dr Shyam N. Nigam, Principal Groundnut Breeder at Icrisat.

A release from Icrisat said the new variety (ICGV 91114) had initiated a revolution in the dry, rocky district. More farmers have started using it because of its advantages.

The groundnut breeding team from the Institute worked with the farmers to select the most suitable varieties. With financial support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the project was launched in 2002 rainy season, in the fields of the ten farmers who volunteered to participate. Subsequent trails showed that the new variety performed better, Dr William D. Dar, Director-General of Icrisat, said.

From the initial plot of two hectares in 2002, it has grown to 210 hectares for seed multiplication. In the rainy season of 2006, it is expected that the new variety would be sown over 5,000 hectares in the district.

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