Production of pulses has increased in India, say experts

JORHAT, Sept 16: “The country is undergoing a pulse revolution in the country as earlier the production of pulses had remained stagnant at around 14 million tons continuously for two decades, but since 2009-10 it has steadily increased to 25.23 MT in 2017-18,” said Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, the Project Coordinator of All India Coordinated Research Project on MULLaRP (Rabi Crops) during the inaugural day function of the two-day annual group meet held at the Dr MC Das Memorial auditorium in the Assam Agricultural University (AAU) premises on Sunday.

The coordinator of the project, Dr Sanjeev Gupta said that lentil, lathyrus, Rajmash, peas and some other minor pulses were secondary winter legumes which altogether contributed about 14 per cent to the total pulses production. There is ample scope for bringing additional area under these pulses in newer niches like rice fallows, tal areas, hill agriculture and in inter-cropping for remunerating cropping system. It is estimated that additional 3.0 million hectare can be brought under pulses cultivation throughout India, he added.

A bio-fortified lentil variety, IPL-220, which is resistant to wilt and rust has been recently released and notified for eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. It has high iron, zinc and folate, which is an important ingredient in food for growing children and health supplement for lactating and pregnant women, said Dr Sanjeev Gupta.

Dr PK Chakraborty, ADG-ICAR, New Delhi; Dr GN Hazarika, former Director Research, AAU Jorhat, and Dr. A Bhattacharyya, Director Research, AAU, spoke about the secondary winter legumes which occupied nearly 3.0 million hectares of area in the country, which also have great promise in rice fallows of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. This, they said, was a positive sign and the result of the good work of the All India Coordinated Pulses Improvement Project (AICPIP).