According to government data, India’s Kharif or monsoon sowing of groundnuts decreased by 0.3 million hectares (MH) for the 2022–23 season, falling to 4.51 MH from 4.86 MH, representing a 7.2% decrease across the country. According to Atul Chaturvedi, president of The Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEAI), “a huge number of farmers have switched from groundnut to cotton and soybean as they garnered greater prices in these two commodities last season.
The amount of groundnut acres in Gujarat, the state with the largest production in the nation, has decreased to 1.7 MH from 1.9 MH. According to Atul Chaturvedi, president of The Solvent Extractors Association of India, “a huge number of farmers have switched from groundnut to cotton and soybean as they garnered greater prices in these two commodities last season” (SEAI).
According to Samir Shah, president of Gujarat State Edible Oils and Oil Seeds Association, the state of Gujarat produced almost 3.5 MT of Kharif groundnuts in the previous growing season. Given the favorable weather thus far, he continued, “considering the loss in acreage, there would be roughly a 20% deficit in Gujarat’s Kharif groundnut production.”
As inquiries from the neighboring Chinese market have begun, Kishor Viradia, president of Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA), anticipates a rise in the demand for groundnut and groundnut oil exports. According to Viradia, the recent rainy spell in the groundnut-growing regions of Saurashtra and North Gujarat has been extremely beneficial for the crop.
