Agriculture department officials say that the high yield of groundnut is due to the shift in cultivation from Saurashtra to regions in north Gujarat where the yield is reported to be very high.

According to the report, the area under cotton cultivation went up by only two per cent, from 23,72,000 hectares in 2006-07 to 24,22,000 hectares in 2007-08, while the production went up to 82,76,000 bales from 78,76,000.

The document says that the seeds of various crops sold by the Gujarat State Seeds Corporation have seen a rising trend every year, in the last three years. Giving statistics, it said that 1,20,678 quintals of seeds were sold in the state in 2005-06, which went up to 1,70,885 quintals in 2006-07 and 1,81,340 quintals in 2007-08.

The document further says that the production of horticultural crops had also increased significantly. During 2007-08, the production of fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers was 60.20 lakh tonnes, 74.03 lakh tonnes, 9.67 lakh tonnes and 0.84 lakh tonnes respectively as against 53.58 lakh tonnes, 60.63 lakh tonnes, 6.29 lakh tonnes and 0.55 lakh tonnes respectively, during 2006-07.

According to the document, the production of fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers is estimated to be 66 lakh, 80 lakh, 10 lakh and 0.90 lakh tonnes respectively in 2008-09.

The production of milk has also witnessed an increase. Against production of 69.60 lakh tonnes in 2005-06, milk production in 2006-07 went up to 75.33 lakh tonnes and 79.12 lakh tonnes in 2007-08.