Project report for Groundnut Cultivation

There is vast scope of cultivating groundnut in the empty fields of rice in eastern and north eastern hills of India. In India, groundnut is one of the most important oilseed crops and occupies an area of 5.86 m ha with production and productivity of 8.26 m tons and 1411 kg/ha. The main groundnut growing states are Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. It plays an important role in the dietary requirement of resource-poor woman and children. Groundnut kernels are also used for the preparation of food products like chikkis, groundnut milk, butter, curd including different bakery products. Groundnut cake obtained after extraction of oil is used as valuable organic manure and feeding material for livestock. Peanuts are oval-shaped nuts commercially distributed as pulses and oilseeds. Peanuts are widely used in the food and beverage industry in the form of oil, flour, snacks, and peanut butter. In the future, the market for peanuts is expected to grow due to the changes in the consumption patterns of customers, as plant-based protein is gaining popularity instead of meat-based protein. With people becoming more interested in healthy eating, peanuts are expected to become an important source of unsaturated fats, fibre, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

The peanut market reached a value of INR 2820.25 Crores in 2021. Peanuts are an essential crop grown worldwide and are commercially used for the production of oil, butter, flour, confections and snack products. The increasing demand for nut-based snacks, nut butter, and protein-rich foods is expected to drive the high demand for peanuts globally over the forecast period, and thereby, encourage higher exports. As a basic food crop they play a central role with respect to poverty reduction and food security; their local value addition through processing to oil, food products and animal feedstock is essential for the development of national industrial fabric and the increase in the value of national exports. Indian processors also experiment with different flavours and coatings to make groundnuts more appealing to different consumers. Peanuts are also used as an ingredient, such as in peanut butter, in cakes and chocolate sweets, as a topping on ice cream and in home-made dishes. The largest quantities of groundnuts in international trade are packed into bulk packaging and exported as raw. Processing operations (such as blanching, roasting or frying) usually happen in India, but some exporters can also perform processing according to the request of buyers. Regular fluctuations in imports will continue to be influenced by harvested crop volumes and price fluctuations rather than changes in demand.