Groundnut farmers in harvesting dilemma

For fear of losing the crop in rain, the farmers are sacrificing getting a good quality yield.
Groundnut is one of the most profitable crop in Udupi district and is adopted by farmers in the district as kharif crop. Farmers in the areas like Navunda, Byndoor, Tekkatte and Kota have gone for groundnut cultivation. In Udupi Taluk only, the crop is grown nearly in 500 hectares of land. TMA2 was the seed variety used earlier. However, in recent days, new variety of GPDP4 is used for sowing.

It is a late Rabi and early summer crop. The soil conditions should be favourable for the cultivation. Sandylome and claylome soil is considered as ideal type for cultivation. The farmers in the district are able to get a yield of 30 quintals per hectare without going for irrigation and depending only on soil moisture. Organic fertilisers are mainly used in groundnut cultivation, but it is substituted by Diamonium Phosphate (DAP) and Potash at times. Gypsum is also applied at times for high yields and superior quality oil seeds. The marketing of the crop is done through local marketing outlets. The oil mill in Kota is one of the largest consumers of the groundnut seeds in the district.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Assistant Director, Agriculture, Udupi, Krishnaramaswami Rao informed that the entire cultivation period is about 90 days and the harvest timing is from December to March. In the last two years, untimely rains in March had destroyed the crop. Farmers were not benefited by the expected profit. Rao informed that about 5 to 6 per cent of good yields are lost if the crop is harvested before maturity and justified the farmers’ haste to harvest the crop early this time.