THE federal government seems to be waking up to rising imports of pulses, which surged by more than 60 per cent to Rs100 billion during the previous fiscal year.

The Ministry of National Food Security and Research considers approving a Rs3bn plan to promote research and boost productivity of four major pulses — gram (chickpea), mash, moong and masoor.

The plan — involving some 18 local and international institutions — is aimed at genetically improving seeds, mechanising production and increasing seed production.

The latest impetus for such planning came from the last year’s import bill. Imports of grams alone swelled more than 55pc to Rs44bn in the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Similarly, imports of masoor (or lentil) more than doubled to Rs15bn. Mash imports increased from Rs6.6bn to Rs7.2bn while that of dried peas stood at Rs25bn.

Apart from the ministry’s plan, the plant sciences division of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) noted in a recent meeting that the import bill of smaller crops — such as kidney, white and broad beans — are also costing over Rs7bn.

Climate uncertainties have hit pulses production more owing to their peculiar cropping requirements

The division has come up with a strategy to strengthen research and development of these beans. Participants of the meeting noted that the country has a huge reservoir of germplasm lines for these beans because they were used to be part of regular diets and sown in many parts of the country before falling out of farmers’ favour.

For example, the Bio-resources Conservation Institute at the PARC has over 1,200 germplasm lines of kidney beans and around 200 lines of cowpeas in its gene bank. They could form the basis for future research and development plans and help cut the import bill.

In addition to this massive gene pool, the organisation has research facilities in almost all ecological zones of the country and they can be turned into genetic improvement centres.

On the basis of ecology, research on kidney bean and arhar pulse was assigned to research institutes in Swat and Tando Jam, respectively. For moth bean, facilities at Dera Ismail Khan and Umerkot would be utilised.

Germplasm acquisition will be the responsibility of the National Agricultural Research Centre.

A coordinated programme on minor pulses will also be developed for improving productivity, profitability and soil fertility through indigenous resources.

“Some beans can only grow in colder areas, whereas some need sandy lands or rain-fed areas. These ecological needs cannot be met by one province alone,” says Dr Anjum Ali, member at the plant sciences division of the PARC.

Pulses production lacks central planning after the devolution of powers to provinces, and the PARC’s plan is an effort to fill the gap, he says. He hopes that once the quality of seeds improves and profitability grows, these minor pulses will be back on the farmers’ list of priorities.

Plans like this have been overdue, as pulses have lost their economic sheen over the last few years, both because of climate change and competition from high-value crops.

Climate uncertainties have hit pulses production more because of their peculiar cropping requirements. They all require different temperature and amount of water to grow, which mostly conflict with other crops, especially wheat, in their areas. For example, if it rains heavily the chances of wheat brighten but that of lentil get ruined. And both suffer if it does not rain at all.

Lentil also does not have uniformed maturity. Sometimes a third of crop matures early and farmers have to harvest it. They have to either pick pods from individual plants or risk destroying the entire crop if they go for mechanised harvesting.

The nature of sowing areas also increases pulses’ susceptibility. For example, in Punjab all of them are sown either in rain-fed areas or on river beds. This gives climate change an additional significance, as untimely rains and floods could damage the crop. Put together, all these factors have made pulses uncertain crops for farmers.

On the other hand, official planning in the last few decades has tilted in favour of high-value crops. With cropping intensity in most parts of the country increasing beyond 150 per cent, there is hardly any space left for low-yielding pulses.

These factors highlight the obstacles to cultivating pulses. Strategies should be made to overcome these problems, both for achieving food security and improving farmers’ earnings.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 29th,2018