Incessant rains dampen spirits of groundnut farmers

Rajkot: The groundnut farmers of Saurashtra, who were expecting better earning this year, are now staring at huge losses as the incessant rains over the past three days has left hundreds of acres of groundnut fields inundated in water. Moreover, an overcast sky and high level of humidity over the past 20 days have further dampened the chances of a good yield this year.
However, experts believe that there was still hope for Saurashtra’s super crop if the weather cleared in next day of two and there is bright sunlight.
Mahesh Khuman, who has cultivated groundnut in his 30 bigha land in Jabal village of Amreli said, “My whole field is underwater. It has become difficult to sprinkle pesticide and remove weeds. If the water does not recede soon the entire crop will be lost.” Khuman is not alone. Groundnut farmers across Saurashtra are facing a similar problem.
This year groundnut sowing has been done in 20.53 lakh hectare against 15.36 lakh hectare in last Kharif season. The main reason being that the state government has been procuring the agro-commodity from the farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is higher than the market price. This has encouraged many farmers to shift to groundnut this Kharif season.
Amreli district agriculture officer J K Kanani said, “As per the complaints received till August 20, crop damage has been reported from 21 villages. Many farms are still waterlogged. After the water recedes we expect more complaint to be filed. This situation could also lead to disease in the crop.”
Kanani added that like groundnut, there is also damage to cotton and sesame crop. They are yet to assess the extent of damage to crops, he added.
The major groundnut producing districts of Gir Somanath, Junagadh and Amreli have received heavy rainfall during August.
On the other hand, oil millers are fearing that the damp weather would affect the yield of groundnut. President of Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA) Samir Shah said, “The groundnut crop requires bright sunlight at regular intervals. But it has not got proper sunlight in the last 20 days.”
He added, “Last year the yield was 360kg per bigha, which we expect to go down to 240-260kg per bigha due to high humidity in the atmosphere.” However, the total production may not go down as area of sowing is fairly large this year, Shah added.
K L Dobariya, groundnut expert at at Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU) said, “There has been some damage to the crop due to rain. But if rains continue and there is no sunlight for few more days, then it will cause further damage to the crop.”