🤑 Organic Peanut Or Groundnut Farming Guide & Cultivation Yield Per Acre

Peanut (Groundnut) Farming Guide, Process and Profit

Peanut or groundnut is also one of the oilseed crops that is grown mostly for obtaining its nutritious oil. Basically, peanut farming or groundnut farming is mainly done most in the tropical and subtropical region and is one of the important commercial crops which has also successful results in small-scale business farming. All over the world, India is the 2nd most producer of peanuts after the China.

Peanuts have great market potential because these are full of all the essential nutrients. They are an excellent source of calories along with vitamin E and several components of vitamin B. They are also the good source of many dietary minerals such as magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus, along with good dietary fiber content in them. Because of this much nutritious value, peanuts or groundnuts are mainly used in the culinary preparation through roasting, making nutritious flour from it and also for extracting the beneficiary seed oil.

peanut farming

Basically, this crop is the annual herbaceous crop that can grow up to 50 cm in height. These seeds are mainly used for extracting edible oil because these seeds contain oil, about 50 % of their total weight along with 25 % of protein.

The oil cake received after the oil extraction from Peanut is also valuable organic manure and cattle feed. This contains about 6 to 7 % of Nitrogen, 1 % of Phosphorus and also 1 % of Potash in it. The kernel of this is easily digestible and also have higher nutritious contents.

Peanut crop is also a good rotation crop that mounts up the soil productivity power through fixing up the atmospheric nitrogen with the help of root nodules.

Commercial Peanut farming or groundnut farming is a successful business plan and can create a huge profit from it if cultivated with certain farm management practices. So, let’s learn some of the farm management practices here and create a big profit via peanut farming or groundnut farming.

Peanut Health Benefits

Here below is the list of some of the health benefits of eating peanuts, let’s learn.

peanuts health benefits

Peanuts also enhance the fertility of soil or soil productivity.
Consumption of this nutritious fruits is helpful in boosting the memory power.
Peanuts are also helpful in lowering the blood sugar level.
Peanuts can keeps you away from the depression problem.
Consuming peanuts can also keep you away from numbers of cancers.
This also prevents us from gallstones problem.
Consumption of this nutritious fruits is helpful in boosting the memory power.
Consuming peanuts is also beneficial in lowering the cholesterol levels in the body.
Consuming peanuts is beneficial in getting rid of the overweight problem.
Peanuts are also helpful in lessening the heart-related problems

Other Names of Peanuts

Badam (Nepali), 花生 (Chinese), 花生 (Taiwanese), Erdnuss (German), Ddangkong (Korean), pīnatsu (Japanese), Gazryn Samar (Mongolian), Cacahuate (Spanish), សណ្ដែកដី (Cambodian), ถั่ว (Thai), Kaju (Sinhalese, Sri Lanka), arachide (French), fūl sudāni (Arabic), Rata yer fıstığı (Turkish), Kikiriki (Bosnian), фъстък (Bulgarian), đậu phộng (Vietnamese), Badam (Nepali), Kacang Tanah (Malay), Arachide (Italian), арахис (Russian), badam-kuhi (Persian), Moong phalli (Hindi, Kashmiri, Panjabi), Bhoising, મગફરી (Gujarati), Bhui mug (Marathi), etc.

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Common Names of Peanuts

Peanuts, Goober peas, Earthnuts, Monkey nuts, Pignuts, Pygmy nuts, and Groundnuts.

Where do Peanuts Grow?

where do peanut grow

Climate Condition for Peanut Farming

Basically, peanut crop can be cultivated in both tropical as well as the subtropical region. However, this crop requires a longer and warmer growing season along with moderate rainfall while its growth period.

Growing peanuts or groundnuts is not a hard working job, but for obtaining a good yield or production from it, it requires sufficient sunshine along with the hot and warm atmosphere. A temp. ranging between 22 °C to 32 °C is considered as the ideal temp. for growing peanuts or peanut farming.

Note: Lower temp. during its growth stage will result in lower the crop production and also produces the low-quality nuts. So, take care that this crop requires warm, sunny, dried and hot climate condition, especially during the ripening stage.

Soil Requirement in Peanut Farming

Peanuts grow almost in all types of soils. However, they perform their best in well-drained, sandy loam and sandy soils since light soils help more in easy insertion of roots. Such soils also helpful in the healthy development of crop and in harvesting too.

Never cultivate this crop on the heavy soils and clay soils since they are not proper soil for optimum production with this crop.

Also, the best soil pH for growing peanut is a soil having pH between 5.8 and 7.3

Note: For commercial farming, it is a recommendation to you that please go for the soil test, at least once, so that you can learn the suitability of your soil for growing peanuts.

How to Start Peanut Farming?

Peanut varieties

Select a Suitable Peanut Variety

In the market, there are numbers of improved and high yielding varieties of peanuts are available for growing commercially specific to each and every particular region.

However, there are mainly four basic market varieties: Runner, Spanish, Virginia, and Valencia. Each of them peanuts is peculiar in flavor, size, and also the nutritional composition. Depending on your purpose, you can select a suitable one which is high in yielding and is also fast growing in nature.

Runner Peanuts

Here below is the list of some common cultivar of runner peanuts:

Florunner
Flavor Runner 458
Sunrunner
Georgia Runner
Georgia Green
Southern Runner

Spanish Peanuts

Here below is the list of some common cultivar of Spanish peanuts:

Georgia-045
Pronto
Olin
Spanco
Tamspan 90

Virginia Peanuts

Here below is the list of some common cultivar of Virginia peanuts:

Florida Fancy
Bailey
Champs
Perry
Gregory
Sullivan
Phillips
Sugg
Titan
Wynne

Note: Consult your local horticulture department, since they can help you the most in selecting a high yielding and fast growing cultivar depending on the climate condition and soil type.

Preparing Land for Peanut Farming

For growing peanuts, your soil should have fine tilth form. This can be done by giving two or three normal plowing followed by harrowing. Since the nuts set insides the soil, they require a free soil for healthy development and also for easy harvesting.

Your soil should also be free from weed if present on your farm. So, removed the weed from the previous crop, if present.

It is a good idea to supplement soil with all the required and essential micronutrients at the time of the last plowing so that they mix a well with the soil. However, incorporating soil with farmyard manure (FMY) is the best way to supplement all the essential micronutrients and also to increase the soil productivity.

How to Grow Peanuts?

how to plant peanuts

How to Plant Peanuts?

This crop is mainly propagated through the seeds. For obtaining higher production, always select a high yielding and fast growing peanut variety or seeds which also has a good resistance to pests and diseases.

However, a good seed treatment can keep away numbers of pests and diseases from this crop. So, treat the selected kernels with 5 to 8 grams of Thiram per each kg of seeds. This also prevents soil-borne diseases.

For planting peanuts, plants the seeds with the help of seed planter or with dibbler. Usually, seed planters are more used for commercial peanut or groundnut farming.

But, make sure that your soil should have good moisture content for good development of this crop.

Peanuts Growing Season

The growing season of this commercial crop varies from region to region. For growing as rainfed crop, plant the selected seeds just before the rainy season starts. For cultivating this crop with irrigated conditions, plantation should be done from early of November to late in December.

Spacing in Peanut Farming

Spacing on this commercial crop depends on the soil type and the cultivar, used for cultivation. For growing in bunch method, keep the row to row spacing 30 cm or 40 cm and for spreading planting method, keep the row to row spacing about 40 cm to 60 cm. The plant to plant spacing is this crop should not be more than 15 cm in bunch method and 20 cm for spreading method. The ideal depth for planting peanuts is 5 cm.

For planting with bunch method, about 100 kg of improved seeds is enough for growing in one hectare whereas for growing with spreading method, you have to sow about 80 kg of improved seeds for optimum production.

Irrigation in Peanut Farming

For growing groundnut as a rainfed crop, there is no need for any irrigation during the whole crop. But in drought conditions, this crop requires irrigation for producing quality pods and maximum production.

However, drip irrigation is the best way of giving water to peanut farming since it utilizes water the most. Give water to this crop on the basis of requirement. The need of water depends on the soil type. During the flowering season, frequent irrigations are required. Also, give frequent irrigation during fruiting period to encourage the root penetration and healthy pod development.

irrigation in peanut farming

Before harvesting, give the last irrigation to this crop so that soil becomes loose and you can collect all the quality pods from the soil.

Pegging, flowering, pod development, and fruiting are the critical stages which require more attention in irrigation. During all these stages, this crop requires sufficient soil moisture content. So, carry out irrigation in the following ways:

Give the 1st or life irrigation after 6 days of sowing to break up the upper surface crust.
Give another one after about three weeks of sowing on the main field.
Also, give two full irrigation at the time of flowering stage.
Also, give two full irrigation at the time of pegging stage.
Hence the last, give two to three irrigations at the time of pod development depending on the type of soil.

Application of Manure And Fertilizers in Peanut Farming

At the time of land preparation, supplement soil with 10 tonnes of chicken manure or25 tonnes of farmyard manure, about four weeks before the plantation or sowing on the main field so that it can mix a well the top soil and improve the productivity as well soil structure too.

When it comes to the application of fertilizers, this commercial crop requires Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Potassium, Calcium, Sulphur, Zinc, Iron, etc for the healthy development of pods. Correct the deficiency of boron, copper, manganese, molybdenum, and magnesium as sooner as the symptoms appear in the field with appropriate fertilizer.

Pests and Diseases in Peanut Farming

pests and diseases in peanut farming

Peanuts Pests

The following is the list of some pests and insects, that are found in the peanut farming:

Etiella or Lucerne seed web moth
Helicoverpa
Mites
White grubs or Scarabs
False wireworms
Whitefringed weevil
Leafhoppers or Jassids
Mirids
Cluster caterpillars
Silverleaf whitefly
Armyworms or cutworms
Thrips

Peanuts Diseases

The following is the list of some common diseases that may attack your crop:

Groundnut Pod Rots
Stem Rot
Afla Root
Collar Rot or Crown Rot
Crown Rot
Pod Rot or Root Rot or Wilt
Rust
Groundnut Yellow Mold
Early and Late leaf Spots
Groundnut Rosette
Bud Necrosis Virus
Peanut Clump
Root-Lesion Nematode
Root-Knot Nematode
Ring Nematode

Controlling Measures

In the market, numbers of liquid pesticides are available, specific for particular pests and diseases. Since the presence of any of them can reduce your production up to many times, so learn the symptoms and perform a controlling task as soon as they observed in your field.

Controlling Weed in Peanut Farming

Weed control plays an important role in the production. The presence of weed can lower the production by destroying the plants. So, carry out at least two to three weedling and hand hoeings. The first one should be done after three weeks of sowing on the main field and the 2nd and 3rd one should be done at the same interval of time before the flowering stage appears. Do not disturb the soil at the time of pod formation.

However, for weed control, using any suitable weedicide is the best way to control weed in this crop. Also, carry out earthing up operation as an inter-cultural activity. This will promote the easy root penetration in the soil via giving more space for spreading.

Harvesting Peanuts

Harvesting in premature pods will always lessen the production, oil % in seeds and also the quality of nuts. And also, a delayed harvesting after maturing pods can cause increases in Aspergillus Flavus infection, along with aflatoxin poisoning in the seeds or pods. Delayed harvesting also weakening of pegs which may be left inside the soil at the time of harvesting. Also, the Spanish bunch cultivars begin to germinate, if harvesting is delayed.

So, harvesting at premature pods or delayed harvesting can lower your profit, multiple times. So, it is very important to carry out harvesting at their optimum maturity to produce the maximum.

Start harvesting, when the older leaves start to become dry and fall down on the field. The color change on the top leaves to yellow indicates that pods become mature. To check out, pull some randomly if the inner shell of them is brownish black instead of white, then this states that crop is matured and is ready for harvesting.

harvesting peanuts

For harvesting, follow the any of below methods:

Give a light irrigation for about one and half an hour and then manually pull out the plants with hands.
Give a light irrigation, for about three days before harvesting and then use blade harrow so that it cuts the roots up to 15 cm from the uppermost soil. Then, pull out the plants manually.
Apart from the above two, if there is the scarcity of water, then loosen the soil by using tractor-driven digger and removed the plants manually.

Yield of Peanut Farming

The yield of this crop depends on numbers of key factors such as soil types, climate conditions, the way of irrigation, and cultivar, used for cultivation. The field management skills also play a vital role in deciding the production.

However, with normal conditions, one can easily harvest peanuts about more than 30 quintals seeds per hectare via growing high yielding and improved variety of peanuts.