Pulse revolution happening in India, says Agri scientist

JORHAT, ASSAM: A pulse revolution is taking place in the country with a quantum leap in its production since 2009-10 to reach 25.23 million tonnes in 2017-18, a MULLaRP project coordinator has claimed. The production of pulses had remained stagnant at around 14 MT for two decades continuously, Dr Sanjeev Gupta, Project Coordinator of All India Coordinated Research Project on MULLaRP (Rabi Crops) said here on Friday.

He was speaking at the inaugural day function of the Annual Group Meet at the Assam Agricultural University (AAU). Lentil, lathyrus, Rajmah, peas and some other minor pulses are secondary winter legumes which together contribute 14 per cent of the total pulses production, he said. There is ample scope for bringing additional area under these pulses in newer niches areas such as rice fallows, Tal (lake) areas, hill agriculture and in intercropping for remunerating cropping system, Gupta said.

An estimated additional 3.0 million hectare can be brought under such pulses cultivation across the country. The improvement work on these crops was initiated in the country at the beginning of the 20th century particularly with the establishment of the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa in Bihar in 1910, he said. PTI