What accounts for the rise in the consumption of groundnut in the country, especially in the Saurashtra region? Explain (200 Words)
Refer - The Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· One example of “consumer-facing”, as opposed to “institution-consumed”, oils faring well in lockdown/unlockdown India is groundnut.
· In Gujarat especially, people had to switch entirely to eating at home and they chose groundnut oil, which is their traditional cooking medium.
Behind the comeback
· One reason, of course, is prices expected to remain firm, supported by rising home consumption of the oil post-Covid and steady export demand for the kernels.
· In Saurashtra, where the major groundnut-cultivating districts are Rajkot, Junagadh, Jamnagar and Devbhoomi Dwarka, the competing crop is basically cotton.
· Saurashtra farmers this time have sown just 14.87 lh area under cotton, as against the 16.50 lh under groundnut. The latter has clearly gained at the former’s expense.
· For farmers, groundnut can be harvested in 90-110 days by October-November, whereas a full cotton crop cycle can take up to 180 days over 3-4 pickings. The shorter duration gives the flexibility to plant wheat, chana (chickpea), jeera (cumin) or coriander during the rabi winter-spring season.
· Not only are groundnut cultivation costs lower, their stems are very good fodder for cattle and buffaloes. Yields per hectare, at 10-20 quintals, are more or less similar both for kapas (raw un-ginned cotton) and groundnut-in-shell. Yields of the fibre crop have actually fallen in the last 5-6 years due to repeated pink bollworm attacks.
· Gujarat is, incidentally, also the country’s largest cotton producer. But procurement of kapas through the Cotton Corporation of India hasn’t been on the scale of groundnut purchases undertaken by Nafed.
Neha Ranwan 4 years
Please review my answer
IAS Parliament 4 years
Good attempt. Keep Writing.
