If you eat pakoras, you must read it.
Every 65 litres in a can of 100 litres of edible oil is imported.
Edible oils are those we use in cooking – and I am told with changing lifestyle and eating habits our consumption of this has been soaring. Since we can’t produce enough of what makes edible or cooking oils – groundnut, soybean etc – we have to import. And this costs us a fortune. In 2013, we spent a staggering Rs 57,000 cr in import bills of edible oils of about 4.3 mt of the total about 7.5 mt we consume nationally. That’s a big sum of money and can buy 200 jets!
It is in this background that my recent trip to a village in Junagadh becomes significant. Junagadh in Gujarat and adjoining districts are among the leading regions in the country in groundnut cultivation. Overall, Gujarat comes second after Tamil Nadu. While we have come across reports that tell us that cultivation of groundnut has gone up considerably in recent times, there is always scope for improvement – in terms of both yields and quality of pods. I realized this upon visiting a Syngenta Learning Centre (SLC) and being told about the intervention which they call Integrated Crop Solutions.
Syngenta is a big company – they are present in every second country of the world – and does good business, recording sales of $14,688 million globally in 2013. That they spent a handsome over $1.4 billion in R&D is a testimony to their commitment to what Syngenta calls its purpose: bringing plant potential to life.
Raju Bhai, the grower from Mendarda village in Junagadh district where one of the five SLCs run, tells me gleefully that he has seen a dramatic rise in the yields – an unbelievable 30%. And this is validated by a battery of government officials and scientists who have travelled from all parts of Gujarat – including faraway Ahemadabad – to participate in this event (Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister here and the legacy he left behind speaks for itself). This is a far cry from situation in states like Bihar where senior government officials consider it almost blasphemous to attend event by private companies.
Those present at the event included Mrs Kamala Chhaiya, Joint Director-Agriculture Census & Training, Govt of Gujarat; Dr K L Dobaria, Scientist and Breeder, Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU); and Mr S B Vaganashi, Dy Director, Extension.
Raju Bhai tells me that Syngenta helps him with a complete package of agronomy packages and crop protection solutions for groundnut. And the results are evident. Syngenta deploys a battery of experts to work closely with growers to help them achieve the desired results. Dr KC Ravi, Vice President, Commercial Acceptance and Public Policy for South Asia, Syngenta. “Under our new strategy, a dedicated team is involved in helping farmers at all three stages of crop cultivation: before farm, on the farm and after the farm by giving stage-wise solutions,” added Dr Ravi.
It is also interesting to note that Gujarat leads in cultivation of groundnut and produced 2.40 million tonnes groundnut in 2012-2013 as against 600,000 tonnes in the previous year. But Syngenta believes that the productivity of the country at 1 metric ton /ha is far lower than US (4.73 mt/ha) and China (3.6 mt/ha), as per a USDA 2014 report and there is reason to help farmers to grow more with less.
Also, the state farmers face a slew of challenges including proper seed source, poor germination followed by weak seedlings pest & disease, improper agronomic practices, inappropriate nutrient management, abiotic stress management, reducing productivity and ROI. Diseases like Collar Rot and Fusarium Wilt reduce plant population in the early stage. Sucking pests like Aphids, Jassids and Thrips plague the crop through its lifetime and spraying to control pests and diseases is normally undertaken as curative rather that a preventive measure. Besides these problems, Groundnut cultivation is undertaken across the country on marginal, rainfed lands with low levels of input usage.
“While we do hear about good production in groundnut, many of the farmers’ pain points have been severely restricting their productivity. After careful study and analysis, SLC worked out a comprehensive package and we worked closely with farmers to register a gain of about 25%-30%, which gives us the confidence to replicate this in other groundnut producing regions in the state,” said Dr RN Sandhikar, Head Solutions Development, Syngenta South Asia.
The company started the system SLCs, small plots of around 0.5ha that employ a ‘seeing is believing’ approach towards educating growers about Syngenta’s technologies and solutions. “Through SLCs, we provide visual, real world demonstrations of the benefits of technology and integrated solutions. The SLCs are a reflection of Syngenta’s ongoing commitment to help growers raise productivity and improve the quality of their crops”, added Dr Sandhikar.
This initiative by Syngenta to bring new life into cultivation practices of Groundnut by demonstrating new technologies of productivity improvement is benefitting farmers in many ways. Syngenta helps the grower by providing him with the proper agronomy advise like water management and irrigation at the right time, since more than half of the area under groundnut is rainfed and water is precious input. Judicious use of fertilizers and perfect balancing of micronutrients in the field is another aspect in which Syngenta guides farmers by telling them the right time for application of Gypsum, Calcium and other micronutrients. Syngenta’s crop protection products like Score, Tilt, Karate and Thiovit help counter various pests and diseases. While Score takes care of early tikka disease which causes spots on the leaves, Karate checks the larvae of leaf cutter and Thrips. Tilt is a superior product against rust- that can become an epidemic once it starts. Another product Thiovit is a good fungicide with additional nutritional value. Fusilade is a grassy weed control specialist for Groundnut and substantially reduces the labor cost. Syngenta’s novel solution for Groundnut boosts the farmers’ ROI and gives a yield increase of 30%.
I sincerely hope such help to farmers will grow and we shall be able to reduce some burden on the imports bill. Meanwhile, you do consider the grim situation next time you ask for your next serving of pakoras!
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13 Jun 2025