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Gujarat groundnut, cotton output falls
January 19: Gujarat, a major groundnut and cotton producer in the country, has reported a severe short-fall in the production of these two commodities in the 1999 kharif season. Erratic rainfall and unfavourable climate scythed through the Gujarat agriculture department's kharif action plan launched in June last year with the objective of further raising the kharif output in the state, official said.According to a preliminary estimate prepared by the department on the 1999 kharif production, output of groundnut has fallen from 16 lakh metric tonnes to nine lakh metric tonnes and that of cotton from 40 lakh bales to 27 lakh bales which was a severe setback on all accounts. So as to offset the setback received due to a poorer kharif production, the agriculture department was trying to ensure that nothing goes off rails in the ongoing rabi (wheat, mustard among others) season sowing for which has been completed in the state last week. "The kharif crops need more water when compared to rabi crops. As the state received scanty rainfall during the 1999 kharif season, the groundnut and cotton production was bound to be affected which it has been," sources added. Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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