Failure of Centre to procure groundnut crop at Minimum Support Price (MSP) in 2013-14 and delayed onset of monsoon this year in Gujarat, the country's major groundnut producing state, forcing farmers to shift to cotton and other crops this season. Consequently, India's kharif groundnut output for 2014-15 is estimated at 3.57 million tonnes, decrease of 24.28% from last year's output of 4.71 million tonnes.
Country's groundnut acreage for the current financial year is also estimated to be down by almost 14%. While groundnut was sown on 4.32 million hectares in 2013-14, the acreage for 2014-15 provisionally stood at 3.72 million hectares, a reduction of 13.77%.
Meanwhile, Gujarat's kharif groundnut production for 2014-15 is estimated at 1.44 million tonnes, down 42.40% from last year's 2.5 million tonnes. Rajasthan, with estimated production of 6.50 lakh tonnes this year, a 25% rise, is the second highest groundnut producing state. Rajasthan’s crop output in 2013-14 was 5.20 lakh tonnes. Production of the crop in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh this year is estimated to be 3.80 lakh tonnes, while in Karnataka, it is estimated to be 3.10 lakh tonnes, down from last year's 3.50 lakh tonnes. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and in Tamil Nadu, the output is estimated to be 2 lakh tonnes.