Anantapur Groundnut — India's Dryland Groundnut Heartland

Anantapur district is India's largest single-district groundnut producer, growing the oilseed on over 1 million acres of red sandy loam soil with the country's second-lowest annual rainfall (about 550 mm). The district's groundnut, known for its bold seed and high oil content, is largely grown without irrigation — entirely dependent on the Southwest monsoon's highly erratic performance. Traditional farmers manage this rainfall variability through soil conservation techniques: maintaining broad ridges and furrows to slow runoff, using groundnut shells as mulch, and fallowing fields in drought years. The Anantapur groundnut market at Anantapur town sets benchmark prices for South India's groundnut oil industry. Women workers are the primary labour force for groundnut harvest — pulling the plant from the sandy soil and stripping the pods by hand.