Farmers sow more sesame seeds, groundnut as oil prices continue to soar

Saurashtra has reported the largest sowing area of the crop with farmers having planted sesame in 1.01 lh. South Gujarat districts have reported sesamum sowing in 2,400 hectares (ha), followed by 1700 ha in north Gujarat, 1200 ha in central Gujarat  and 1100 ha in Kutch.

In Saurashtra, Junagadh has reported sesame sowing in 22,500 ha and has emerged as the single largest sesame district in the state, followed by Surendranagar (17,500 ha) and Amreli (16,500 ha). Gir Somnath (9,700 ha), Rajkot (7,300 ha), Bhavnagar (7,100 ha), Jamnagar (6,000 ha) and Devbhumi Dwarka (5,300 ha) are among the other Saurashtra districts where sesame has been sown in sizable areas.

Though sesame is an oilseed crop, it is used more as a  mouth-freshener and as toppings in bakery products like bread and rolls.

Farmers have also sown groundnut on 60,820 hectares, an increase of 23 per cent over the past three years’ average crop area of 49,255 ha. It is also fractionally higher than last year’s corresponding period figure of 59,193 ha. Banaskantha has reported groundnut sowing in 24,000 ha, while Bhavnagar has reported 10,000 ha. Amreli (3,500 ha), Jamnagar (2,500 ha) and Morbi (2,300 ha) are other groundnut districts this season. Overall, North Gujarat accounts for 28,300 ha of groundnut area, Saurashtra 23,300 ha, the central Gujarat 3,700 ha, South Gujarat 3,600 ha and Kutch 1,900 ha.

The increase in acreage of the two oilseed crops comes against the backdrop of soaring prices of cooking oils in the country. A 15-kg tin of groundnut oil is trading at around Rs 2,800 in the retail market in Rajkot.

Farmers in six districts of north Gujarat have reported Bajra pearl millet (bajra) sowing in 1.88 lh with Banaskantha alone having reported sowing of this cereal crop in 1.61 lh. Anand (28,100 ha) and Kheda (22,800 ha) in central Gujarat have emerged as the other millet districts. In Saurashtra, the crop has been sown in a total of 25,300 ha with Bhavnagar (9,500 ha), Gir Somnath (6,800 ha) and Amreli (3,300 ha) being major districts. The bajra sowing this year is around eight per cent higher as compared to the past three years’ average of 2.58 lh and marginally higher against last year’s corresponding figure of 2.70 ha.

The overall sowing stands at 11.18 lh, which is around 25 per cent higher than the last three years’ average sowing of 8.98 lh and significantly higher when compared to last year’s corresponding figure of 10.35 lh.

After pearl millet and sesamum, paddy (73,825 ha) is the third single largest crop followed by green gram (70,000 ha). Groundnut is the fifth single largest crop with an area of 60,820 ha. Farmers have sown fodder in 3.54 lh and thus, is the second-largest group of crops after cereal (3.57 lh). Vegetables have been sown in 1.03 lh, the data shows.