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Lax research led to shortage of pulses
Lack of focused research to improve the seed variety of red gram (pigeon pea) and green gram in the last two decades has led to the present situation of acute shortage of pulses and prices touching an all-time high of Rs 200 per kg, according to the State Agriculture department.
Production has come down to 70,000 tonnes this year from 5 lakh tonnes in 2003 in Telangana
Hyderabad: Lack of focused research to improve the seed variety of red gram (pigeon pea) and green gram in the last two decades has led to the present situation of acute shortage of pulses and prices touching an all-time high of Rs 200 per kg, according to the State Agriculture department.
The officials of the department said the main reason for the scarcity was low productivity in pulse cultivation in both kharif and rabi seasons. Farmers were still using low yielding seed varieties for the past decade. Seeds available in the market were not replaced due to lack of research and non availability of new seed varieties forced the farmers to shift to other crops, resulting in lower output of pulses.
The production of pulses has come down to 70,000 tonnes this year from 5 lakh tonnes in 2003 in Telangana, the officials said. The other main reason was lack of scientific methods adopted in the cultivation of pulses. No scientific pest management was prepared and also pest resistant varieties were not developed.
Cropping system approach, weed, soil nutrition management, farm mechanisation and post harvest methods to improve productivity were not done for pulse cultivation. The consumption of pulses has increased but the yield and cultivated area declined, the official said.
As a result, pulse cultivation has been reduced to 3 lakh hectares from 6 lakh hectares in the last 12 years. The official figures say in 2003 the total production of pulses was 4.95 lakh tons, 3.08 lakh tons in 2004 and in 2014-15 it came down to 2.63 lakh tons.
With low yield and reduced profitability, farmers were forced to shift to other crops particularly cotton. Agriculture scientist at Professor Jayashankar Agricultural University, V Praveen Kumar said the acreage in pulse cultivation reduced by three fold and cotton farming had gone up by three fold in the last 10 years. Cotton cultivation has registered 42 lakh hectares against 14 lakh a decade ago.
By:Patan Afzal Babu
