Abnormal growth of low-yielding groundnut plants shocks Ranipet farmers

He said, “Farmers in the neighbourhood have all complained about such abnormal growth” and surmised that the reason could be due to the crop being planted ahead of its season due to good rain in the district.

Stating that Agriculture Department officials were yet to reveal the reason for such abnormal growth, he said, “usually a normal plant will have around 15 to 20 pods in its roots whereas in the giant plants which is more like a vine, there are only one or two pods.” “When groundnut was about to mature, it was attacked by leaf spot disease at the flowering stage and hence the feeling is that after the attack, nutrients from the soil instead of nourishing the pods went to the plant proper resulting in it abnormal growth,” he added.

On the abnormal groundnut growth, Raja said that “officials say that as the plant has crossed 40-day growth period, there will be no use in treating it, which means that the farmer suffers an unnecessary loss.”

What irked local farmers was that the Agriculture Department officials demanding to know why they went to the press instead of informing them directly over the issue. To the query, Raja replied that if the officials were contacted directly, the remedy would be only for a limited area whereas media exposure would lead to the solution reaching all areas. Raja further requested farmers to contact the department officials for any crop related issues.