Rain-Fed Groundnut In India: Prioritizing Production Constraints And Implication For Future Research

ABSTRACT Groundnut is the principal vegetable oil crop in India and occupies the top slot in terms of area as well as production of total oilseeds in the country. However, about 85 percent area under groundnut remains rainfed of which nearly 80 percent comes under dryland where irrigation facilities do not exist at all. There has been gradual increase in the productivity of this crop over the last three decades. However, the enhancement was particularly spectacular in better environments. In harsh environment, not only the yields are low but also it fluctuates violently. Introduction of exotic varieties could not mitigate this problem; rather increased the problem of insect pests and disease pathogens in rainfed groundnut. Concerns are also being raised on the very profitability and sustainability issues of this oilseed crop under free economy hypotheses. On the other hand, if yield gap statistics are any indication then there exists a large potential to raise productivity of this crop. Keeping these issues in mind efforts have been made in this study to identify and prioritize production constraints in rainfed groundnut production system and to explore major researchable issues.