Groundnut output to dip in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Groundnut production in Gujarat a major producing state may dip this year due to a change in crop sowing pattern during kharif season and erratic rainfall, industry experts said.

The acreage under major oil seed crop of kharif groundnut has dipped to 16.56 lakh hectares compared to sowing done in 17.7 lakh hectares last year uptil July 2008, state agriculture department official said. Acreage under groundnut this year is even less than three years average of 17.52 lakh hectares, the official said, adding sowing is still underway and ���we expect the situation to improve���.

���Present condition of the crop in Saurasthra region is good. We advised the farmers to use life saving irrigation till the arrival of rains and many of them have started using drip irrigation facility or sprinklers,��� VD Khanpara a professor in the agronomy department of Junagadh Agriculture University said.

If it does not rains in the next 15 days then chances of crop failure are high where farmers don���t have an alternative irrigation facility, he added.

According to convenor of crop estimate Committee Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade (COOIT), GG Patel, area covered under groundnut in Gujarat, this kharif has dipped nearly by two lakh hectares as crop in one lakh hectare has been washed away.