The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat groundnut output may touch 15 lakh t

AIDED by showers from the retreating monsoon in the last 10 days, the groundnut crop in Gujarat is likely to cross the 15-lakh-tonne-mark, although it is likely to stay far below last year's bumper harvest of 27.5 lakh tonnes.

``The rains over the last few days will benefit the crop that had been sown late. Overall, we feel that the total production will now touch 15 lakh tonnes, which is close to the 10-year average of 16 lakh tonnes,'' Mr Govindbhai Patel, an oilseeds trader, told Business Line from Rajkot.

Groundnut traders in the State had earlier predicted an output of 12-13 lakh tonnes due to erratic rains that saw a dry spell followed by heavy showers. Known as the groundnut bowl of India, five districts of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat account for nearly half of the country's total production of the oilseed.

According to Mr Bipin V. Patel, a groundnut trader from Junagarh, this is the first time in recent memory when groundnut was sown in three phases in Saurashtra. Farmers were forced to space out sowing because of erratic monsoon.

``Sowing started in the end of April and first week of May when about 10 per cent farmers in the region planted the crop. Sowing intensified from June 1-10 when 75 per cent of the crop was planted. Finally, with rains arriving, some groundnut was planted in the last week of June,'' Mr Patel said.

The recent rains could harm the crop that had been planted in April-May as it was already being harvested. But rains would be beneficial to the bulk of the crop that is expected to be harvested from mid-October to November first week.

``Arrivals have been hovering between 25,000 and 50,000 bags for the last couple of weeks. The prices, as of now, have been in the region of Rs 520 per quintal for groundnut in shell. The bulk of the harvest will come in after Dussehra and continue till Diwali. We expect the overall production to touch 15 lakh tonne,'' he said.

Groundnut growers of Saurashtra hope to export between 40,000 and 50,000 tonnes of groundnut oil this year, Mr Patel said, adding that it was likely to be less than half of last year's export of 1.2 lakh tonnes of groundnut oil. It takes about three tonnes of groundnut in shell to produce one tonne of oil.

Both Mr Govindbhai Patel and Mr Bipin Patel say while the crop this year was not even half of last year's production, it did not imply a disaster for the farmers as it was quite close to the last 10 years' average.

``The last 10 years' average production stands at 16 lakh tonnes. But that is after you take into account last year's bumper crop of 27.5 lakh tonnes. Some traders believe that the crop was even higher than 30 lakh tonnes last year. That year was unusual and cannot be taken as the benchmark,'' Mr Bipin Patel said.