The acreage is reported to have declined in major producing districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Agri-commodity research firm AgriWatch, which was commissioned by the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) to conduct a survey to estimate the area, yield and production of castor seed for the crop year 2020-21, has revised the estimate of the country’s castor crop down to 17.8 lakh tonne from the earlier estimate of 19 lakh tonne.
The yield has also been revised down to 2,157 kg/hectare from 2,303 kg/hectare. The total area under castor seed cultivation in India for the year 2020-21 is estimated to be 8.26 lakh hectares as per government estimates as against 9.73 lakh hectares in 2019-20, a decline of 15%, as per the survey findings.
The acreage is reported to have declined in major producing districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The revised acreage estimates for Gujarat have been revised down to 15.2 lakh hectares as against 16.3 lakh hectares estimated earlier. For Rajasthan the acreage has come down to 2.2 lakh hectares as against earlier 2.4 lakh hectares earlier. Acreage for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana remain unchanged.