Groundnut

History

Introduction Origin And Diffusion Area And Production Tamilnadu Scenario Importance In Economy Economic Importance

Introduction

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea Linn.) is one of the principal economic crops of the world ranking 13th among the food crops and it has been accepted by Indians as a vegetable oilcrop during the middle - to - late nineteenth century.
It is generally distributed in the tropical, sub-tropical and warm temperate zones of the world covering in over 80 countries.
The limits of commercial production are between latitudes 40°N and 40°S. This crop is also known as peanut, monkeynut, goobernut and earthnut.
The Spaniards introduced the name "mani" for groundnut found growing in Peru. An European missionary, Bartolome Las Casas, who sailed in 1502 in Hispaniola (now, Haiti Dominican Republic, West Indies) and traveled throughout the Spanish lands from 1510 to 1547, was the first to encounter the groundnut called, "mani", This name is still used in Cuba and Spanish South America.
A Calvinist missionary with the Huguenot colony founded in 1555 on the island in Rio de Janeiro bay, also encountered groundnut in this region called, "manabi".
These confirm South America as the place of original cultivation of groundnut and its wide distribution throughout the tropical and sub-tropical areas before and at the time of discovery of America. Later, groundnut became known to European naturalists early in 17th century.
The Portuguese naturalist, Gabriel Soares de Souza, who lived in Brazil between 1570 and 1587 gave the first detailed description of the plant, its cultivation and artificial curing
The French naturalist, Charles Plumier (1693) is credited with coining the French name, "Arachide" for the plant called "manobi" in parts of South America and in the French Antilles. Finally, Jean Baptiste Labat (1742), who lived in the French Antilles from 1693 to 1705, gave a remarkable description of groundnut and also listed its alimentary uses.

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Origin and Spread

The South American origin of cultivated groundnut was disseminated to Europe, to both coasts of Africa, to Asia (China, Indonesia, India) and to the Pacific islands and finally to the south eastern United States. The Spanish type groundnut (seed) was introduced from South America (Brazil) into Portugal in 1784 and part of it sent to Rome (Italy). Then it spread to Valencia (Spain) and to South France. The Spanish type was first cultivated in Europe by Spaniards for oil and thus, derived the term, `Spanish'.
The first introduction of groundnut, runner growth habit (var. hypogaea) into the United States was probably from Africa. The small poded, short seasoned Spanish (var. vulgaris) was, however, introduced from Spain in 1871.
The Valencia type (var.fastigiata) spread throughout the world from Paraguay and central Brazil. The term `Valencia' referred that it was a recent introduction into the United States from Valencia, Spain.

Introduction into India

The credit for the introduction of groundnut into India goes to Spaniards. It reached eastern Asia from South America and from there came to India on the east coast of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh by Spaniards.
The Peruvian type (var. hirsuta) of groundnut from South America was first transported along the American west coast to Mexico and then across the Pacific to Phillipines, from where it spread to China and India in addition to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Adoption of groundnut as an oilseed crop

The crop was being cultivated along with turmeric in Mysore region. The fist large scale cultivation was reported to be 4000 acres in 1850-51 in the South Arcot (now Cuddalore and Villupuram) district of Tamil Nadu state and it assumed agricultural importance gradually.
In 1879, the area under groundnut was 1,20,000 acres, of which nearly two-third area was in Maharastra and Gujarat states and one-third in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka States. In 1889-90, nearly 2,79,000 acres were under this crop in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states, of which over 1,85,000 acres were in South Arcot district.

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Area and Production

India, which adopted groundnut as an agricultural crop by the late 19th century, gradually became the major groundnut producing country in the world within a span of 5-6 decades. India shares 22 per cent of the world production (area 4.9 m.ha, production 5.8 m.tonnes).
In Tamil Nadu, it is an important and major oilseed crop, covering an area of 338300 hectares with a production of 783200 tonnes. Out of which 70% of the area is covered under rainfed crop and the remaining 30% is under irrigated conditions.
In Tamil Nadu, majority of the groundnut area (43%) is covered in North Eastern Zone (comprises of Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur districts and parts of Ariyalur district).
Hence, this agro-climatic zone is considered as a main zone for oilseed production especially groundnut. The crop is also popular in all the remaining zones of Tamil Nadu except in hilly zone and high rainfall zone.

Area, production and yield of groundnut crop in different countries during 2012

Country	Area in Ha	Production(Mt)	Yield(Kg/Ha)
World	24709458	41185933	1666
Argentina	307166	685722	2232
Brazil	110366	334224	3028
China	4723600	16856845	3568
India	4900000	5779000	1179
Indonesia	559532	712874	1274
Japan	7180	17300	2409
Myanmar	880000	1371500	1558
Nigeria	2420000	3070000	1268
Senegal	708986	672803	949
Thailand	30000	45700	1523
U.S.A.	650740	3057850	4699
Uganda	421000	295000	700
Vietnam	220500	470622	2134

Source : FAO CITATION

State-wise Area, Production and Productivity of Groundnut in India (2012-2013)

Year	Area (000' ha)	Production (000' t)	Productiity (kg/ha)
Andhra Pradesh	1345.0	1115.0	829
Chhattisgarh	25.3	34.9	1379
Gujarat	1285.0	758.0	590
Haryana	2.8	3.2	1143
Jharkhand	23.5	27.5	1170
Karnataka	589.0	395.0	671
Madhya Pradesh	205.7	311.7	1515
Maharashtra	270.0	285.0	1056
Orissa	66.4	81.7	1231
Rajasthan	398.5	617.3	1549
Tamilnadu	338.3	783.2	2315
Uttar Pradesh	94.0	94.0	1000
West Bengal	67.5	170.5	2526
Others	5.7	12.4	2155
All-India	4721.1	4695.3	995

Source : DACP

District-wise area, production and yield of groundnut crop (2011-2012)

District	Ground nut Area in Hectares	Production in tones	Yield in tonnes/ha
Kancheepuram	16305	62336	3.82
Thiruvallur	9891	40491	4.09
Ariyalur	13027	53859	4.13
Cuddalore	9698	34607	3.57
Tiruppur	8253	19709	2.39
Villupuram	36224	98836	2.73
Vellore	42513	95961	2.26
Thiruvannamalai	56281	154136	2.74
Salem	19773	49107	2.48
Namakkal	26538	64688	2.44
Dharmapuri	17069	54504	3.19
Krishnagiri	15609	48194	3.09
Erode	18534	26053	1.41
Coimbatore	7077	17890	2.53
Tiruchirapalli	11478	26820	2.34
Karur	7228	19038	2.63
Perambalur	2224	4645	2.09
Pudukottai	17629	38341	2.17
Thanjavur	8262	26048	3.15
Nagapattinam	2595	9965	3.84
Thiruvarur	4093	23040	5.63
Madurai	3362	6386	1.90
Theni	2286	5606	2.45
Dindigul	12780	44858	3.51
Ramanathapuram	3705	5149	1.39
Virudhunagar	5378	8984	1.67
Sivagangai	6187	16579	2.68
Tirunelveli	1090	3297	3.02
Thoothukudi	508	1494	2.94

Source : DACNET

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Present Scenario In Tamilnadu

In Tamil Nadu, the area under groundnut is about 3.38 lakh hectares. The soils in the entire Tamil Nadu are sandy loam. The major groundnut growing areas are Vellore, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Trichy, Madurai, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Pudukottai and Kancheepuram districts.
About 90% of the groundnut area is under Spanish-bunch varieties. However, Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddloare districts have some pockets under Virginia- bunch (TMV 10, ALR 1) and Virginia-runner (TMV 1 and TMV 4) also.
More than 50% of the Spanish-bunch area is still under the age-old varieties, TMV 2 and TMV 7. The remaining area is occupied mainly by VRI 2, JL 24, CO 2, ALR 2 and BSR 1 and red kernel local variety.
In areas where the groundnut cultivation is practiced purely under rainfed conditions farmers prefer Virginia bunch and Virginia runner when compared to Spanish bunch.
Of late, due to high kernel recovery, drought resistant and assured minimum pod yield the area under red kernel local Spanish bunch is on the increasing side. But the potentiality of the variety is not as high as the improved varieties.
Even though a large number of varieties were released within a short period wide fluctuation in the spread of the varieties is observed in groundnut. This may be due to the following reasons.
Specific varieties intended for specific season are not being adopted by the farmers as per the recommendations. This leads to low productivity.
Due to poor seed multiplication rate (1:4 or 1:5) in groundnut, the coverage of area by a particular variety is very poor compared to cereals.
viability of the seed is also lost within a short period.
In general, the bunch varieties do not possess dormancy at field level.
Wide fluctuation in market price due to import policy leads to lesser area coverage by the crop as well as the varieties.
Economic status of the groundnut growers does not permit to reserve seeds for the subsequent seasons.
Procurement policy of the Government and the seed certification procedure are unfavourable for the groundnut seed growers.
Direct purchase of groundnut pods (wet) by the traders delinks the seed chain.

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Importance In Economy

India is bestowed with the fortune of growing nine oilseed crops reflecting on the dietary importance of its population. Oilseed crops, being next to food crops hold sizeable share of the country's gross cropped area (13.0%) contributing 5 per cent of its Gross National Product (GNP) and 10.0 per cent of the value of all agricultural produce.
India considered to be a paradise of oilseed crops having 19.0 per cent of the total world's oilseeds area and 10.0 per cent of world's oilseeds production. We are the fourth largest producers in the world in terms of output and occupying second place in area under oilseeds.
In the past 15 years, the attainment of compound growth rate of 6.5 per cent in India's vegetable oil production front as against the world average compound growth rate of 3.5 per cent indicates the immense potential of our country's vegetable oil sector to meet the future challenges.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended an intake rate of 20 g of oil per day per adult (7.3 kg per year) and the requirements of edible oils at this rate by next 20 years would be almost 10.5 m.t., which could be extracted from 34.6 m.t of oilseeds. At the current level of 25.0 m.t., the country is going to face shortage of 9.0 to 10.0 m.t in the next 20 years.
Groundnut is the major oilseed crop accounting 29.1 per cent of the total oilseeds cropped area in the country with a production share of 36.1 per cent. India also occupies a distinct position in area and production of groundnut crop in the world contributing 32.3 and 22.1 per cent respectively.
Tamil Nadu is one among the top four groundnut producing states in the country contributing about 20.0 per cent of the groundnut production. About two third of its area is under rainfed conditions and the remaining one third is under irrigation. The area and production of groundnut are highly variable due to vagaries of monsoon. This situation obviously demands a multidisciplinary approach in our research efforts in developing economically viable and sustainable crop production and protection technologies particularly the location specific technologies.

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Economic Importance

The oil content of the seed varies from 44 to 52 per cent, depending on the varieties and agronomic conditions.
Groundnut oil is edible oil. It finds extensive use as a cooking medium as refined oil.
It is also used in soap making, and manufacturing cosmetics and lubricants, olein stearin and their salts.
Kernels are also eaten raw, roasted or sweetened. They are rich in protein and vitamins A, B and some members of B₂ group.
Their calorific value is 275 per 100 grams.
The H.P.S. types of groundnut kernels are exported to foreign countries.
The residual oilcake contains 7 to 8 per cent of N, 1.5 per cent of P₂O₅ and 1.2 per cent of K₂O and is used as a fertilizer.
It is an important protein supplement in cattle and poultry rations. It is also consumed as confectionary product.
The cake can be used for manufacturing artificial fibre. The haulms (plant stalks) are fed (green, dried or silaged) to livestock.
Groundnut shell is used as fuel for manufacturing coarse boards, cork substitutes etc.
Being a legume with root nodules, it can synthesize atmospheric nitrogen and, therefore, improve soil fertility.

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Tamilnadu

Groundnut

About Groundnut

History

Morphology and Growth

Groundnut Management

Services Overview

The key services offered by Ikisan are:

System study, design and development of IT enabled solutions and services for the agri sector.

Execution of rural IT enabled projects on BOT/BOOT/Turnkey basis.

Development, Customization and Deployment of Ikisan's IPR protected software applications.

Providing support services and best management practices for augmenting the marketing development efforts of the groups agricultural input companies (NFCL and NACL).

Development and Dissemination of best practice and information though a unique multi lingual knowledge website for the agri sector.

Some of the key customers/partners that benefit significantly from our work include are Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, State Agricultural Marketing Boards, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Tamilnadu, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Motorola Mobility (GOOGLE) etc.

As highlighted earlier Ikisan provides significant support to the market development and marketing efforts of NFCL and NACL by providing best practices and information across the agricultural input value chain - weather, soil, seeds, fertilizers, water, pesticides, output prices etc. that have enabled the companies to develop deep customer relationships and in turn enable them to grow above market growth rates. Recently example in fertilizers includes the development of Customized Fertilizer Grades (for NFCL across India that are crop and location specific have not only reduced the current consumption of fertilizers of farmers but have significantly enhanced crop yields and farmer incomes) that are expected to add significant revenues to the company.

Currently, agriculture value chain is driven by technical expertise. However, there is a lack of adequate Management knowledge and skills amongst the professionals. Therefore, Ikisan and XLRI, Jamshedpur have jointly developed an Agri Business Management Program for Agri-professionals and students. Ikisan provides the domain expertise while XLRI provides pedagogy. This program is a combination of virtual learning and campus based module at XLRI, Jamshedpur. This program has been highly appreciated.

Intellectual Property Rights for many software applications such as Field Manager, Vyapar, Mandi, Quick Solutions Systems, Management Time Table, Agri Information System and Agrecommerz belong to Ikisan. A significant recent development in this area is the introduction of Weather Based Crop Insurance. This entails setting up of Automatic Weather Stations, which provide dynamic village-level data essential for settlement of weather based insurance claims.