Racing pulses

Scientists believe good prices have encouraged farmers to put a larger area under cultivation and this has consequently meant a higher produce. The yield per unit area has remained stuck between 600 and 700 kilograms a hectare,but scientists say the government has begun to get across the best available technologies to farmers on the field.

The jump this year has been made possible with the application of the existing shelf of technologies,coupled with conducive weather and farmers increasing the acreage,encouraged by high prices in the domestic market, Masood Ali,former director of Indian Institute of Pulses Research IIPR,Kanpur,told The Indian Express.

Now the big task at hand is to sustain this performance in future. And it can be done, said Ali,who was IIPR director when the country launched the National Food Security Mission NFSM with its focus on accelerating pulse production.

The estimated output represented an 18 per cent jump from last years 14.6 million tones but Ali stressed it can be taken to as high as 50 per cent. IIPR scientists had been telling the government that a 50 per cent jump in production was possible with proper application of the existing shelf that includes seeds,critical inputs like micronutrients and pest management techniques. All that was needed was to make farmers aware about these practices, Ali said.

The IIPR has trained extension workers to double the number of frontline demonstrations under the NFSM. Agriculture Ministry officials said the government had distributed mini-kits for pulses development,which included seeds and nutrients,to farmers tilling about 8 lakh hectares during the last year.

The performance is not an outcome of a fresh technology breakthrough. It is an outcome of the existing shelf of technologies, said Ali,stressing the need to continue demonstrations.

About the weather,he said the rain during the kharif season was distributed in a way that suited the crop,while the rabi season saw an extended period of conducive temperatures. Only parts of Madhya Pradesh were affected due to frost. The kharif output jumped significantly while the rabi output did not drop under the 10-million-tonne mark, Ali said.

The price stimulus for farmers came last year. With domestic prices having skyrocketed,the government massively hiked the minimum support price for major pulses just ahead of the kharif season. The MSP per quintal rose by Rs 700 to Rs 3,000 for arhar tur,by Rs 410 to Rs 3,170 for moong,and by Rs 380 to Rs 2,900 for urad.

The area under cultivation during the kharif season rose 20 per cent,from 95 lakh hectares to 114 lakh,and the output from 4.20 million tonnes to 7.03 million. In the rabi season,the acreage went up 10 per cent,from 143 lakh hectares to 157 lakh,though the output remained around the 10-million-tonne mark.

Pulses are rain-fed crops and the challenge is to replicate this performance year after year; or this,the crops water use efficiency needs to be enhanced.

In the long term we have to come out with varieties resilient to climate change. But in the short term,we need to ensure the application of the existing shelf of technologies including modern seeds and critical inputs like sulphur,pesticides and irrigation facilities that enhances water use efficiency, Ali said.

The Agriculture Ministry has asked the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research to analyse which factor contributed how much to the performance.

A third party analysis will show us where we need to consolidate our work and where there is room for improvement, a senior Agriculture Ministry official told The Indian Express. The Ministry is collaborating with the IIPR and other research institutes for a long-term plan.