While peanuts often are vital as a high energy, high protein food for many at or below the poverty line, the readily saleable products which the crop provides are a source of purchasing power for producers and processors, many of whom are women. Peanuts also contribute up to 60 kg ha -1 nitrogen to the soil, diminishing the need for a fertilizer essential to sustained yields of the subsistence cereals that do not readily enter trade. The alternative is subsidized, chemical nitrogen fertilizer. Therefore, peanuts are particularly important in the development of employment, trade, purchasing power and for the sustainability of agriculture-dependent economies in the developing world. Since population growth rates are correlated with the economic status of women, peanuts also have an indirect role in achieving these goals.
Most production is used in the producing country.
The Peanut CRSP will also help to promote the development of trade since peanuts are contributing to the development of free-market economies in Eastern Europe. U.S. peanuts are imported into this area, and research relevant to the use of peanut in these market economies is planned. In developing countries peanut has a high elasticity of demand in that as income increases demand for peanut products increases. Higher yields can be directly related to conservation of soil through greater cover of the soil and less erosion, and less cultivation of marginal land. Indirectly peanut also contributes to sustainability by providing alternative employment and thereby decreasing the dependence cultivation of marginal lands.