Due to the absence of rain during the months of June and July, the area under crop could not be increased but now with good rains in September yield of the crop is expected to improve. The rains have been 21 percent above average in the week to September 12, the third straight week of heavier than normal rainfall.
In Rajasthan, the top guar producing state, farmers have so far sown guar on 3 million hectares as compared with 2.76 million hectares a year ago. The total acreage under guar in Rajasthan was 3.09 million hectares and output was 1.84 million tonnes last year.
Besides the top producing states Rajasthan and Haryana, farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have also grown small quantities of guar, which is usually sown in June and July and harvested in October and November.
The improvement in yield of Guar in India is some good news for the oil industry in the US as industrial guar gum is used in drilling and in hydraulic fracturing or fracking to extract gas from shale, which has transformed energy supplies notably in the United States. India is the world's largest producer and exporter of guar gum, meeting 80% of global demand.