The Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council has estimated a bumper sesame and groundnut crop this kharif on the back of timely monsoon this year.

Groundnut crop is expected to jump 12 per cent to 77 lakh tonnes against 69 lt logged last year with Gujarat alone accounting for 50 per cent of overall production.

Sesame and groundnut jointly account for 80 per cent of the oilseeds exports from India. About 75 per cent of the national production of sesame and 85 per cent of groundnut comes from kharif season, said Khushwant Jain, Chairman, IOPEPC.

Sesame area, output

Sesame this kharif was sown on 14 lakh hectares, which was three per cent more than the normal with Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan together accounted for 72 per cent of the national sesame acreage.

Production of sesame crop is estimated to increase 10 per cent to 4.39 lt (3.99 lt) with Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan accounting for 58 per cent of overall output.

Madhya Pradesh was the top contributor with an output of 162,475 tonnes (37 per cent) followed by Rajasthan at 92,308 tonnes (21 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh at 72,312 tonnes (16 per cent).

Record output in Gujarat

Groundnut was sown on 51 lakh ha, about 23 per cent more than the normal. The acreage in Gujarat alone increased 36 per cent and is likely to record a production of 38,51,971 tonnes (29,38,315 tonnes) accounting for half of the national groundnut production. The other major groundnut producing States including Rajasthan contributed 14,94,040 tonnes followed by 5,39,922 tonnes from Tamil Nadu, 522,348 tonnes from Andhra Pradesh.

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