The Saurashtra Kutch region, popularly known as India’s groundnut bowl, is threatening to fall off the agricultural map. The famed groundnut growing region is suffering a striking decrease in terms of both cultivation area and yield. This puts a big question mark on the survival of more than 800 oil mills in Saurashtra Kutch region, which between them used to account for 35 per cent of  the total 5 million tones of groundnut oilseeds production in India.

The slide which began a couple of years ago metamorphosed into a steep and unchecked plummet this season. The scanty rains have led to a record fall in yield this time _  the Saurashtra Oil Millers’ Association estimate the fall at over 45 per cent, which is now likely to hasten the en masse closure of  mills with groundnut oil price expected to touch Rs 1,500 per 15 kg by Diwali. Once a powerful political lobby that played a role in government formation earlier, oil millers have now been reduced to pleading with the Government to increase import duties on other oils, for their survival.

With only 25 per cent of mills likely to reopen in the coming season, the SOMA also wants the government to lift the ban on groundnut exports in order to encourage cultivators. In India Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are the major producers with the coastal belt of Saurashtra region being at the top of the list. Groundnuts are also cultivated in Vadodara, Bharuch and Surat districts.

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