P4N: Peanut for Nutrition

Abstract

Peanut is the prime choice other than cereals for providing nutrition for urban and rural livelihood. It is now widely cultivated throughout the tropical and sub- tropical countries of Africa, Asia, North and South Americas where about 47 million tonnes of pods are produced from about 28 million hectares. The consumption has grown at a rate of 2.53% and is expected to grow further in the years to come. India is the second largest producer as well as consumer of peanut in the world with 68.57 lakh tonnes production (FAO, 2019). The crop area in India is at 40.12 lakh ha in 2018-19 down from 41.35 lakh ha in last year. Similarly, production and yield are estimated at 37.70 lakh tonnes and 931 Kg/ha respectively as against 52.75 lakh tonnes and 1269 Kg/ha respectively during previous year (Fig. 1). India alone has exported peanut (in shell) of worth rupees three thousand crores in 2018-2019 (Fig. 1). Around 50 per cent of peanut exports from India are destined to Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia (Fig. 2). Peanut are consumed worldwide either as raw or as roasted, roasted-and-salted, fried, or boiled. It is also considered a ready‐to‐use therapeutic food (RUTF) to treat protein energy malnutrition in children. There are more than 50 million children in the world who suffer from malnutrition. Peanuts have been helping to fight childhood malnutrition across the world since 2005 in the form of RUTFs. The RUTF product is a peanut paste that also contains skimmed milk powder, vitamins and minerals. This combination in right proportion helps malnourished children recover in weeks. As malnutrition continues to affect millions of children, peanut-based RUTFs continue to be one of the most effective ways to treat it. However, except peanut all other nuts are costlier and not in the reach of everyone.