Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. Anil Kumar
An important constituent of our dietary habit, Pulses are leguminous crops and an important source of protein, fibres, vitamins, starch, and minerals. What is unique to them is their property of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in their root nodules thereby, making the soil rich in nutrients. The important pulses grown in Kharif season are Urad bean, Pigeon Pea, Mung bean and Cow Pea; Chickpea, Lentils and dry pea are grown in Rabi season. Moong bean and Urad are also grown in Zaid season. All over the world, pulses are grown in more than 171 countries. The pulse crops occupied 72.3 million ha area and contributed 64.4 million tons with productivity of 890 Kg/ha in the triennium ending 2010-11.
Today, India is largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. About 33 per cent of the world’s area under pulses is in India. Also 25 and 27 per cent of the world’s production and consumption of pulses is respectively is in India. India is also one of the largest exporters of pulses in the world. Nearly 60 percent of pulses are produced in rabi season. During 2010- 11, the production of pulses in India, estimated at 17.29 million tonnes is all-time high. The previous pulses production record was 14.91 million tonnes during the year 2003-04. But the latest data shows it has reached 22-23 million tonnes. Among Kharif pulses (7.3 million tonnes), pigeon pea (3.15 million tonnes) and black gram (1.82 million tonnes) production are slated to hit all time higher. In India the major pulses producing states are Madhya Pradesh followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh. As far as individual pulses are concerned chickpea contributed 48%, Pigeon pea 17%, black gram 10%, green gram 7% and other pulses 18% towards total pulses production.
But, the availability of pulses in India is quiet low in India. While WHO recommends 80 grams of pulses/capita/day (29.2 kg/capita/year), it reduced from 22.1 kg/capita/year in 1951 to 15 kg/capita/year in year 2012. In country in the year 2014 the per capita net availability of pulses was 47.2 gram. There is a huge gap between the availability and the recommended quantity. As a result, India has to import pulses to tune of 4.02 million tons (2012-13) to meet the increasing demand.
CONSTRAINTS IN PULSE PRODUCTION
Pulses have become a victim of the high handiness of the government. They were not given the importance due to them. They have been given little importance as compared to cereals and other staple crops. Still they are treated as secondary crops. As farmers in the country have low purchasing power, their first priority becomes the staple crops like Paddy, wheat and Maize.
Grown under rain fed conditions:
The biggest constraint in pulses production is that these are still cultivated on marginal and degraded lands under rain fed conditions. More than 87 % of the area under pulses is rain fed. This is much greater as compared to the area under other crops like Paddy and Wheat which are largely grown under irrigated conditions
Low Production per unit area
In India Pulses have very low production per unit area. As far as productivity is concerned, the highest productivity recorded was of France (4219 kg/ha) followed by Canada (1936 kg/ha), USA (1882 kg/ha), Russian Federation (1643 kg/ha) and China (1596 kg/ha). In India the productivity is around 600-700 kg/ha. This becomes a serious handicap in promoting pulse production. This can be attributed to the hostile weather and the use of local varieties. The Seed Replacement Ratio in pulses is very low. The Seed Replacement ratio for Chickpea, Uradbean, Mungbean and Pigeon pea was 19, 34, 30 and 22 per cent respectively.
Lack of technical knowhow:
The farmers are still unaware of modern production technologies of Pulses. Still practicing the crude and traditional methods without any knowledge of the input doses and time of their application, their yields are far less than the potential yields. This makes their cultivation non remunerative and ultimately the farmers get disillusioned with growing pulses in his fields
Lack of incentives:
There are no incentives to farmers to promote these crops. There is no well defined mechanism for their procurement and marketing as is the case with Paddy or Wheat. The Minimum Support Price which the government announces is also not compatible with the rising cost of cultivation of the crop.
OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE PULSE PRODUCTION
The Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur in its vision document states that Indian population is expected to touch 1.68 billion by 2030 and the pulse requirement for the year 2030 is projected at 32 million tonnes with anticipated annual growth rate of 4.2 per cent. The total production of pulses in recent years has been around 22-23 million tonnes. Indian import dependency in pulses is always around 16-20 per cent. But there are opportunities for the county in raising pulse acreage as well as its production. Productivity can be increased by development of improved varieties of seeds which can withstand weather aberrations like drought and stress. Some salt-tolerant varieties like JG-11 for south India have also been released. Recently, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) also released high-yielding pigeon pea hybrid suitable for irrigated areas,
The seed replacement rate has also to be increased. Farmer should be made aware of the modern production technologies. The extension personnel must be trained to disseminate the required information among the farming community and also to motivate them to go for pulses cultivation. The acreage under pulses can be increased by bringing more area under its cultivation. In the Indo-Gangetic plains short-duration varieties of pigeon pea, Kabuli chickpea, field pea and summer moong-bean can be introduced. At present the summer pulses are being grown as a bonus crop in the states like Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The area under pulses can be increased by promoting as an intercrop with sugarcane and other crops.
The eastern region of the country gives another opportunity to increase pulse production in the county. About 6 to 7 million hectares of rice fallows in eastern India can be utilized for pulse production in the country. As pulses have a low shelf life therefore provision of pulse processing mills and other facilities at the block or Panchayat level can motivate the farmers to grow more pulses. Because of the risks associated with the pulse production, providing an insurance cover to pulse growing farmers is also necessary. Proper weed management can also avoid 15-20% of losses in pulses. The Minimum Support Price of the farmers has to be at par with the cost the farmer incurs on their cultivation. If, pulses are included in Public Distribution System, it can go a long way to bring more area under their cultivation thereby improving the food and nutritional security of the country.
India’s pulses yield is far below that of best-in-class countries like USA and Canada which produce about 1,800 kg per hectare. The rice and wheat yield over the years has witnessed two to three fold increases, but in case of pulses the story is different. Even the green revolution bye passed pulses. The result is that the average yield of pulses has remained at a level of only 6 to 7 quintals per acre, low compared to those of other cereals. The need of the hour is a pro active approach to revive the pulse production in the country. What is needed is the drought resistant short duration improved varieties and their availability to farmers at the right time along with other inputs and the provision of desired information to the farming community. The country has all the potential to achieve much higher productivity in pulses. The General Assembly of the United Nations on Dec. 21, 2013 has also voted to proclaim 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. This thus means that the focused attention will be paid to enhance the production of pulses.
(The authors are Senior Research Fellow and Associate Director Research, Advanced Center for Rainfed Agriculture, Rakh Dhiansar, SKUAST-Jammu)
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