CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 1 Agriculture sector of Indian economy contributing around 16 50 per cent NSSO 2019 20 of the country s GDP and livelihood for more than one third population of the country Indianagriculture has made considerable progress particularly in respect of food crops such as wheat and rice in irrigated areas however performance has not been so good in case of her crops particularly oilseeds pulses and coarse cereals Therefore after achieving self sufficiency in food grains the government is focusing attention on other agricultural commodities Oilseeds play an important role in the economy after food grains As well as Indian climate is also suitable for wide variety of oilseeds that is grown in India Groundnut is one of the important oilseeds among the group and a good source of oil as well as protein Groundnut is known as the poor man s nut It is the sixth most important oilseed crop in the world India s rank in production of groundnut is second In India the availability of groundnut is throughout the year because it has two crop cycle harvested in March October It is also considered as an important forage crop also Groundnut plays an important role both as oil or food crop Groundnut is very nutritious food It contains 48 50 oil 26 28 protein and a rich source of dietary fiber minerals and vitamins It also helps in preparing products other than food products such as soaps medicines cosmetics and lubricants Availability per capita of Groundnut in India is around 10 kilograms for domestic consumption purpose Groundnut is an annual 1 herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm tall World s leading producer of Groundnut are India China About 60 percent of Groundnut production produced by India China Major groundnut producing states were selected according to 2018 production data for the study based on their cumulative contribution of at least 95 per cent of total production The state of Uttar Pradesh included Uttarakhand which were not carved up earlier and included in the former states was also taken in the study 2