Cotton's gain is groundnut's loss in Gujarat. While farmers are rushing to increase the acreage for Bt Cotton in Gujarat, groundnut cultivation is taking a beating in the state.
In fact, Gujarat's dominance in groundnut farming is a thing of the past now. Southern states like Andhra Prasdesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are far ahead of Gujarat in groundnut cultivation.
However, farmers in Gujarat are switching to Bt Cotton in a big way. Saurashtra, the groundnut bowl of the country, is turning towards cotton now.
In 2005-06, Gujarat lost almost 2 lakh hectares of groundnut area to cotton. This year till June, the groundnut acreage is 12.19 lakh hectares compared with 17 lakh hectares in the last financial year.
On the other hand, among the three southern states, Andhra Pradesh registered 16.15 hectares of area under groundnut cultivation during the last financial year.
There is almost 15 to 20 per cent decrease in groundnut production and acreage during the last
five to six years in Gujarat.
Gujarat's groundnut production has decreased by around 2 lakh tonnes in the last two years.
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu's cumulative groundnut production beat Gujarat by a large margin. Gujarat produced 19.5 lakh tonnes in 2005-06 and its 2006-07 figures are likely to be about 17.5 lakh tonnes.
On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have recorded a cumulative production of 32 lakh tonnes in 2005-06 and are likely to produce 24.6 lakh tonnes in 2006-07. Despite a lesser output for the southern states this year, it is set to beat Gujarat's groundnut production.
Of the southern states, Andhra Pradesh is emerging as a major competitor to Gujarat in groundnut production. Andhra produced 16.5 lakh tonnes in 2005-06 and is likely to produce 10.6 lakh tonnes in 2006-07. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu both occupy the second and the third places respectively, the former likely to produce around 6 lakh tonnes and the latter 8 lakh tonnes.