ROURKELA: In spite of the huge potential for sunflower and groundnut production in Sundargarh and high market demand, the district is lagging behind in cultivation of the two rewarding oilseed crops largely due to lack of government support.
In the rabi season last year, around 14,953 hectare (ha) of land was covered under oilseeds cultivation in Sundargarh. Sunflower cultivation was programmed for 250 ha of which only 207 ha could be achieved. For groundnut, it was 495 ha. In the ongoing kharif crop, sunflower cultivation has not been programmed, while 3,500 ha out of 16,900 ha for oilseeds is earmarked for groundnut.
Sources in the Agriculture department attributed the constraints for sunflower cultivation to unavailability of seeds. In the recent past, the cost of import-dependent sunflower oil had gone up to Rs 215 per kg but now it is priced at around Rs 190. The cost of groundnut oil too is on the higher side.
District agriculture officer of Panposh sub-division Religious Beck said between 2005 and 2009, sunflower cultivation in the district had dramatically gone up. But subsequently, farmers stayed away from the crop as there used to be no minimum support price (MSP) and marketing option then. In 2021 rabi season, sunflower seeds were not available and interested farmers had no option.
Beck said sunflower is a profitable crop and gets ready in 100 days without much labour. With systematic cultivation and assured irrigation, one ha of land can fetch up to 14 quintal of sunflower. Sundargarh’s 52 per cent crop area is made of high land (1.63 lakh ha) of which 76,000 ha is used for labour-intensive paddy crops. In sunflower and groundnut production, the district has a remarkable potential to help curb import, he added.
Incidentally, the Centre has upwardly revised MSP for sunflower to Rs 6,400 per quintal against the production cost of Rs 4,113. Similarly, MSP for groundnut is Rs 5,800 per quintal against production cost of Rs 3,873. Chief district agriculture officer (CDAO) of Sundargarh Birendra Behera said the agro-ecological conditions are favourable for sunflower and groundnut cultivation. In the upcoming 2022 rabi season, efforts would be made to increase cultivation of both the oilseed crops.