Groundnut Cultivation in India – A Complete Farming Guide

 To prepare the land, ploughing should be done twice to make the land weed free and pulverize the soil well to obtain good tilth. Before sowing, a third ploughing may be needed.

Sandy loam and black soils with good drainage are ideal for groundnut cultivation. Groundnuts are cultivated at an altitude of 1000 m. A minimum rainfall of 1250 mm is required for the proper growth of crops.

Use well developed kernels for sowing. Do not use very small, shrivelled and diseased kernels as they will affect the growth.

It depends upon the varieties. For the bunch type, the spacing should be 30X10 cm with 100 kg seed quantity and for semi spreading type it should be 30X15 cm with 95 kg seed quantity.

Ground nuts best grow in the month of May to June with the onset of monsoon. In some areas, they are sown as late in August or early September due to the delayed monsoon.

Application of 10-15 t/ha of well decomposed farmyard manure about 15 days before sowing along with 150kg neem cake and 150kg rock-phosphate and the lime application @ 2 tonne/ha is important for the higher yield.

Irrigation two or three times depending upon seasonal rainfall is necessary for good crop growth.

Some of the pests of groundnuts are Leaf Miner and Red Hairy Caterpillar which can be treated with Neem-based formulation @ 5% and A-NPV (2X 10^5 PIB/I) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) spray.