Global provider of sustainable agriculture products and solutions, UPL Ltd. has delivered promising results with its ProNutiva Sada Samrudh Groundnut program in Gujarat. The project that was scaled up in May 2021 has resulted in astonishing improvements in the crop yields, thus increasing the income of the participating farmers.
To showcase the same, UPL conducted a live harvest demonstration at Rikadia Village, in Amreli that was attended by more than 750 farmers, Village Sarpanchs & Officials of Agriculture Department.
The first pilot program was started with 8,500 farmers that was taken up in 2020 in the main groundnut belts in Gujarat, which helped increase their yields and income, now it has covered over 2.5 lakh acres of farmland with 50 thousand farmers. The overall increase in groundnut yield is of 50-60 percent, with an increase in oil extraction of 1%. Additionally, it led to an increase of fodder yield of 35 percent, which helped improve the farmers’ daily income.
Under Pronutiva Sada Samrudh project, groundnut farmers were provided integrated agricultural services like IPM Kits, Soil Testing, Weather Services, Crop Advisory & High-Tech Enabled Farmer Mechanization Services to boost groundnut yield and income. They also used UPL's groundbreaking product “ZEBA” that absorbs water and nutrients and releases it to the plant when it’s needed by it. The project has not only demonstrated the significance of apt inputs and advisory along with technology services for the upliftment of groundnut farmers, but also showcased the potential to stimulate highly remunerative groundnut cultivation across the country which in turn can contribute to food as well as nutritional security, and help with the country’s Edible Oil Mission as well.
The program has been surveyed by We Governance Knowledge Services Pvt Ltd, Junagarh Agriculture University & Grant Thornton, all independent third parties.
The results of the We Governance Knowledge Services Pvt. Ltd. showed that with the use of “ZEBA” and all the other services under the program, the number of healthy plants increased by 20 percent, the number of peg formations increased by 25 percent, the number of pod count increased by 35 percent and all of these improvements lead to a higher pod weight by 51 percent. The study by Junagarh Agriculture University showed an increase in Oil of 1.45 percent, an increase in the true protein of the nuts by 1.68 percent and an increase in the total carbohydrates of 0.72 percent. A study is still under process by The Grant Thornton and the report will be available soon.
Commenting on the success of the program, Savesh Kumar, Head, India Filed Marketing, UPL shares, “Gujarat is a key state in India’s groundnut production, and has the highest capacity of any state in the country. Farmers in the region are faced with problems such as white-grub infestation, water management, soil nutrient deficiency. Our program has shown extremely promising results and we hope to continue to improve yields and thereby the livelihoods of our nation’s farmers.”
Ashish Dobhal, Regional Head of India, UPL Ltd, mentions, “UPL strives to holistically and sustainably improve each crop, which is the aim of the ProNutiva Sada Samrudh program as well. We are delighted to see the incredible results from the program, which has led to not only led to an increase in the crop yield, but also helped farmers increase their income.”
Dinesh Bhai Rupala, a groundnut farmer from Ishwariya Village Amreli, said, “We were planning to abandon the cultivation of groundnut as there were very less yield and income but due to the intervention and support of the UPL team under Sada Samrudh Pronutiva project we are not only getting over 50 percent higher yields but also higher price of our crop due to better quality. The fodder quality and quantity has also increased that has helped us to get more returns from dairy business.”
Rohit Bhai Movaliya, Farmer, Rikadiya, Amreli, at whose farm the live event was organized, said, “I have found a higher number of pods, weight, quality with bigger size pods, in my groundnut crop by using Pronutiva package in my farm that is providing me over 25-30 percent higher income when compared with a non-Pronutiva farm. When due to intermittent rains other farmers’ groundnut crops were showing stress and were drying, my farm was still green and remained healthy without irrigation due to the use of Zeba that holds water and releases when the plant is in stress. It has also helped me to get good quality and quantity of green fodder as well for my cows and buffaloes.”
