Groundnut Farming Guide - Varieties, Yield & MSP 2026

Kharif groundnut in Gujarat and Rajasthan is sown with the first good monsoon rain, from mid-June into early July, on well-drained sandy loam soil, and dug in October to November when leaves yellow, older leaves drop and the inner pod shell shows dark lines. Plan on roughly 6 to 10 quintals of dry pods per acre (15 to 25 q/ha) in a fair year, and dry the pods to about 8% moisture before storing or selling.

The MSP for 2026-27 is ₹7,517 per quintal for groundnut in shell, up ₹254 from ₹7,263 last year. Because harvest is on now, this guide puts special weight on digging at the right time, drying, preventing aflatoxin and selling.

Where and when groundnut is sown

• Rajasthan: A state project report gives June to July sowing and October to November harvest, with bunch types at 15 to 20 cm plant spacing using 80 to 100 kg seed per hectare and spreading types 60 to 80 kg, sown not deeper than 5 cm. The main districts named are Bikaner, Jaipur, Jaisalmer and Nagaur.
• Kharif (rainfed or protective irrigation): sown June to July and harvested October to November. PAU's guidance for the rainfed crop is to sow with the monsoon, in the last week of June or first week of July, as early as possible, because delayed sowing progressively cuts pod yield. A well-distributed 50 cm of rain during July to September is needed for a rainfed crop.
• Irrigated early kharif and summer: In Punjab, PAU recommends end-April to end-May sowing with a pre-sowing irrigation for the kharif crop. In Gujarat, varieties such as GJG 31 are released specifically for the summer crop. Canal and sprinkler areas in Rajasthan and Gujarat use this irrigated option; check your state university for the date in your zone.

Varieties

Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU) has released several Gujarat varieties. The yields below are pod yields in the release trials, which are higher than farm averages, so treat them as a ranking and not a promise. The Rajasthan varieties in the last row come from the state's agricultural competitiveness project report and are older releases; ask SKRAU Bikaner or your KVK for the current list, because varieties bred for Gujarat may not suit Rajasthan's sandy soils.

Match the growth habit to your plan: bunch types mature earlier and are easier to harvest, while spreading types suit rainfed Saurashtra soils. Buy certified seed, because home-saved seed loses vigour and carries disease.

Seed, seed rate and sowing

• Kernels: Hand-shell healthy pods about a fortnight before sowing (a pedal sheller does 6 to 8 times the work of hand shelling) and discard shrivelled or blemished kernels.
• Seed rate (PAU): 32 kg kernels per acre for bunch types at 30 x 15 cm, 40 kg for SG 99 at 30 x 15 cm and 38 to 48 kg per acre for semi-spreading types at 30 x 22.5 cm. That is roughly 80 to 120 kg per hectare. Use the rate on the seed label for your variety.
• Depth and method: About 5 cm deep with a seed drill or planter. Make small bunded plots right after sowing so that you can give protective irrigation.
• Seed treatment: A fungicide (thiram 5 g or mancozeb 3 g per kg of kernels, PAU) prevents seed and seedling rot. An imidacloprid-containing treatment also checks white grub and termite. Trichoderma at 4 g/kg is used against stem rot. Use the label dose and treat just before sowing.

Fertiliser and gypsum

Groundnut fixes its own nitrogen, so the dose is small. The table is PAU's recommendation for medium-fertility soil (Punjab); Gujarat's calcareous and Rajasthan's sandy soils vary, so use a soil test (Soil Health Card) or JAU advice.

• If the preceding crop received its full phosphorus dose, PAU says phosphorus can be skipped for kharif groundnut.
• For zinc deficiency (small, light yellow leaves at the top, stunted plants, shrivelled kernels), PAU advises 25 kg zinc sulphate (21%) per acre, enough for 2 to 3 years.
• Rotate; PAU warns against growing groundnut in the same field year after year because soil diseases build up. See fertilizers for product details.

Weeds and water

Hoe twice, at about 3 weeks after sowing and again 3 weeks later. Keep the crop weed-free through flowering and pegging, and avoid deep digging once pegs have entered the soil. A rainfed crop needs one irrigation at flowering if rain fails, one or two more during pod formation, and another a few days before harvest to loosen the soil so that pods come out with the plant (PAU). Where you have canal or borewell water, sprinkler irrigation saves water; see sprinkler irrigation and subsidy options.

Main diseases and pests

Confirm products and doses with your KVK, because approvals change. See also the pests page.

Harvest: timing and curing

• Signs of maturity (PAU): uniform yellowing and shedding of older leaves, brown to black lines on the inner side of the pod shell, and kernels turning pink. The rainfed crop is usually ready at the start of November in Punjab; in Gujarat and Rajasthan check your own field, because a June to early July sowing is generally ready in October to early November.
• Digging: Dig when the soil has enough moisture for pods to come out; do not let the crop become over-ripe or pods will stay in the soil. Machine diggers and shakers are used in larger fields.
• Curing: Leave the dug crop in small heaps or inverted windrows, pods up, for about two days, then thresh or strip the pods and winnow.

Drying, aflatoxin and storage

• Sun-dry the pods for 4 to 5 days before storage (PAU). ICRISAT guidance is to dry pods on a tarpaulin or mat, not on bare ground, and to bring the moisture of the seed down to about 8%; its certified-seed standard caps moisture at 9%.
• Remove damaged, shrivelled, rotten or split pods before storage, do not mix clean pods with gleaned leftovers, and store in dry, ventilated conditions in a place that does not take in damp from the floor or walls.
• Inverted windrow drying has been shown to reduce aflatoxin contamination. Late rain on drying pods is the main risk, so keep a tarpaulin ready to cover the heap.

Selling: MSP, procurement and mandi

• MSP 2026-27: ₹7,517 per quintal. The government's estimated all-India cost of production is ₹5,011 per quintal, so MSP gives a margin of ₹2,506 (50%).
• Government buying: Procurement under the Price Support Scheme needs state-wise approval and prior registration. Last year Gujarat registered farmers free of cost through village e-Gram centres on the e-Samruddhi portal for 1 to 15 September. This year's windows will be announced by the state agriculture department, so ask at your village centre or cooperative instead of waiting.
• Mandi: Harvest-time prices often dip. Compare the rate at the groundnut mandi page with the MSP, and eNAM if your mandi is connected. Dry, clean, uniform pods with low foreign matter earn the best rate and are easier to store if you decide to wait.

Cost and return arithmetic

Arithmetic: gross is yield times ₹7,517; cost is yield times ₹5,011 (a national average that includes hired and family labour, inputs, rent and interest); margin is the difference. The yield rows are assumptions; average rainfed yields are often lower, which raises your cost per quintal. A sale at ₹6,500 instead of MSP cuts the margin per quintal from ₹2,506 to ₹1,489. Protect the crop with PMFBY and finance it with a Kisan Credit Card.

Sources

• Rajasthan Agricultural Competitiveness Project: Value chain analysis, groundnut
• PAU Package of Practices for Crops of Punjab, Kharif 2026 (groundnut)
• Junagadh Agricultural University: Varieties released in 13 years (groundnut)
• ICRISAT: Groundnut cropping guide
• Cabinet approves MSP for Kharif crops 2026-27 (text of the official release)
• Gujarat Samachar: Farmers in Gujarat can register for MSP sale of groundnut, moong, urad, soybean from Sept 1-15 (2025)