ગુજરાતી
English
Gandhinagar, 23 November 2020
The Gujarat Agriculture Department had released estimates of groundnut planting and production during the monsoon. The late rains have severely damaged peanuts. Groundnut, which was supposed to be available to farmers, has fallen by 40%. Oil prices are high due to the decline in groundnut production. The price of 15 kg of groundnut oil is about 2500 rupees. In world, 10 percent of the total groundnut is available in Gujarat.
Planting
Groundnut was extensively planted in the monsoon of 2020-21. A sudden peanut of 20.65 lakh hectares was planted. Last year that was 1.5 million hectares. Planting grew by 134.11 percent on average.
Agriculture Department estimates
With the increase in planting in 2020, the Gujarat Agriculture Department had estimated before the end of the monsoon that kharif would be planted in 20.72 lakh hectares and yield 54.65 lakh tonnes of groundnut. On an average 2637 kg of groundnut will be produced per hectare. But this style turned out to be wrong. There will not even be half production.
Who is right?
In 2019-20, 15.66 lakh hectares were estimated by the Director of Agriculture. Peanut production was expected to be 2.2 million tonnes. The Agriculture Department had estimated production of 1378 kg per hectare. Farmer leaders believe that the Rupani government should consider how such a huge estimate was raised in a single year. By estimating over-production, officials are sitting in the office playing a game with figures to double farmers’ income.
Guess turned out to be wrong
His projections are inherently false. Peanuts were severely damaged by previous rains. It was raining when the crop was ready. Hence the ground deteriorated. Weight loss is due to more water. This is a 40 percent loss.
Pre-monsoon peanuts suffer the most
Monsoon in Gujarat starts from June 15. On 15 June 2020, groundnut was planted in 6.57 lakh hectares. Groundnut production in all these farms has come down by 50 percent. This is due to rain on the finished crop.
Low oil content
Peanut production has been 60 per cent. Farmers have suffered 40 percent loss. Peanuts are weak, there is moisture in the. Weight is less. Due to non-filling of seeds, the amount of oil at this time is hardly 30 to 40 percent, which is usually up to 50 percent. Due to low production, barely 50 percent of oil will be produced.
Exactly how much will be produced
The Department of Agriculture estimated that 5.5 million tonnes of peanuts would be harvested. According to farmers estimates, it does not actually exceed 3 million tonnes. Thus, production has decreased by 2.5 million tonnes.
Which district suffered the most?
Groundnut farming has caused the most damage to Rajkot, Junagadh, Amreli and Somnath districts. Maximum loss of 6.50 lakh hectare has been reported in these districts. In these 4 districts, 70% of the total planting of the state was planted before monsoon starts.
Loss of 1000 kg per hectare
The Agriculture Department estimated that 2637 kg of groundnut would be harvested per hectare. Now, in which there can be reduction from 1 thousand kg to 1200 kg per hectare. It literally means that 20.65 lakh hectares of groundnut crop has produced less than 2.5 million tonnes.
The truth of SEA came true
The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) estimated on 2 October 2020 that 3.5 million tonnes of kharif groundnut would be harvested in Gujarat. Which was 10 percent higher than the production of 3.2 million tonnes in 2019.
He speculated that heavy rains in Saurashtra caused some damage to the crops. The SEA had estimated that between 4 and 42 lakh tonnes of peanuts would be harvested after initial planting. SEA said that due to heavy rains and floods, the acreage increased by 33 per cent to 21 lakh hectares, but the yield declined by 17 per cent. 1715 kg per hectare will be reduced. Which was 2070 kg last year.
Loss of 10 thousand crores
Groundnut is being sold at Rs 40 per kg. It is estimated that the farmers have lost Rs 10,000 crore in production. In fact, he was entitled to insurance. But the government has stopped taking insurance. Now it helps. Therefore, farmers have to bear a loss of Rs 10,000 crore for production loss. The farmers who consider loss, the government does not consider loss.
Best Products in 2017-18
The best monsoon in the country was in 2017-18, when 91.79 lakh tonnes of groundnut and 20.82 lakh tonnes of oil were produced. Gujarat has 45 per cent share in groundnut and 50 per cent in oil. This year 2361 kg of groundnut was produced per hectare, the highest in the country.
5 million tons oil
It is said that Gujarat’s oil mills can extract barely 5 lakh tonnes of oil in 2020-21. Because oil is less in peanuts. There are weak grains. Peanuts are soaked. Therefore oil extraction is less.
Support price
The central government had purchased 100 kg of groundnut for Rs 4,000 in 2014-15. The farmers got Rs 40 per kg. Against this, in 2018-19, the central government gave Rs 4890 per 100 kg. The Rupani government of Gujarat bought groundnut for Rs 50 per kg. Thus the farmers received a lot of help.
Production cost
Farmers in Gujarat spend Rs 58373.60 per hectare on groundnut production. In this the average yield of groundnut peanuts is 1853 kg / ha. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh spend Rs. 43,000 and farmers in Karnataka spend Rs 41,000 per hectare. Thus a farmer in Gujarat has to spend an additional Rs 15,000 per hectare. However, it takes 500–800 kg more in production against it.
Peanuts in India
In 2017-18, India produced 9.18 million tonnes of peanuts on 5 million hectares. Which was an average of 1444 kg per hectare. Gujarat produced 3.94 million tonnes, Rajasthan 1.26 million tonnes and Andhra Pradesh produced 1.04 million tonnes.
Gujarat has the highest production per hectare in the entire country. But if it did not rain this year, farmers in Gujarat would have produced 5 million tonnes of groundnut. Thus Gujarat had to produce the most oil in the entire country which could not happen.
