TO increase indigenous production of pulses, a project has been finalised to be launched during the 2018-19 fiscal year to strengthen the national agricultural research system. The project’s main objective is to feed the increasing population and to arrest the drainage of national exchequer for import of pulses.

The Rs2.6 billion project is being finalised by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for coordinated research to develop high-yielding disease-resistant varieties of pulses crops amenable to mechanical harvesting.

The project developed by the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) will explore new pulses production areas in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and support farmers in all the pulses-growing regions with seed and associated production technologies for their success.

It has been planned that 1,000 tonnes of certified seeds will be distributed to potential farmers with particular focus on southern Punjab, Balochistan and areas of KP where production will be increased on marginalised land.

The project has been developed considering the present situation of pulses in the country and the scope of these crops. Its activities aim to overcome the constraints which were the main hurdles for promoting and increasing the productivity of mung, mash, lentil and chickpea crops in the country.

Promising varieties of pulses already notified from all provinces will be selected through a dedicated committee of researchers under the auspices of PARC

According to PARC Chairman Dr Yousuf Zafar, the project will have Australian cooperation. Under the project, farm mechanisation will be introduced for the first time for sowing and harvesting of these crops. Farm mechanisation will help overcome loss of crop at the time of harvesting.

Germplasm will be imported for the improvement of variability to produce climate-resilient high-yielding varieties. The sources will be the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for desi chickpea; Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) for chickpea and lentil; International Centre Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) for Kabuli chickpea and lentil; and the World Vegetable Centre (WWC) for mung bean and mash. Other opportunities for seeking better germplasm from the repository of different countries will also be explored.

With mechanised sowing, the sowing period will also be reduced. There will be 18 stakeholders in the project from all the four provinces. A buyback provision will be made under which the Utility Stores Corporation would be asked to buy mung, mash, masoor and gram directly from farmers instead of importing these commodities.

Pakistan is a net importer of pulses, and its import bill has increased to the alarming level of more than $1bn a year. Pulses are not only an important source of protein but also a cheap source of energy for poor segment of the society.

Pakistan produces only about 500,000 tonnes of major pulses like chickpea, lentil, mung and mash beans. The rest of these pulses have to be imported to meet the demand in the country. In 2016-17, the import bill of pulses surged by 190 per cent, which indicates that the net pulses import increased from Rs34bn in 2009-10 to Rs100bn in 2016-17.

According to PARC, there are a number of factors which respond to low productivity of pulses in Pakistan. The wide gap between the attainable yield potentials and farmers yield are due to various biotic, abiotic and social factors.

Among socio-economic constraints, inadequate extension and promotional activities, lack of systematic seed production mechanism, lack of indicative prices and proper marketing system for pulses are the major contributors towards yield instability over the years. Addressing these issues may lead to an improvement of up to 30 per cent in yield of each pulse crop.

Post-emergence chemical weed control and lack of mechanisation for combine harvesting are other researchable issues. Another focus is on diversifying and bridging the vast yield and productivity gap between the national average and far higher performance benchmarks of progressive farmers.

The wide gap between the attainable yield potentials of existing varieties and farmers yield are due to various biotic, abiotic and socio-economic factors. Biotic (diseases, insects and weeds) and abiotic factors include the non-availability of high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties; the non-availability of quality seeds; inaccessibility to farm machinery and credit facility; poor adoption of improved production technology; poor retention to active beneficial microbes for biological nitrogen fixation; and non-existence of integrated pest management strategies for pulse production.

According to details, the germplasm will be distributed among the breeding components of the project in the country and tested for various aspects. These components will develop new varieties using different approaches like selection, hybridisation, mutation as well as genomic-assisted breeding. The leading varieties which are climate-resilient, mechanical-friendly, high-yielding, disease-resistant and herbicide-tolerant will be selected and approved for cultivation.

Seed replacement and pulses area enhancement programme will be launched with the provision of good-quality, high-yielding varieties seed on about 20,000 acres each year. Mash will be promoted in areas of districts Khuzdar, Awaran, Musakhel and Barkhan in Balochistan; lower and upper Dir, Chitral and Kurram in KP; and Jaccobabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Matiari and frost-free coastal areas in Sindh.

Lentil area and production will be promoted in Nasirabad, Jafarabad, Qila Saifullah and Zhob areas of Balochistan, and Bajaur, Swat, Mansehra, Tankl and Lucky Marwat areas of KP. Similarly, chickpea will be popularised in Sindh and Balochistan’s districts.

Potential and promising varieties of pulses already notified from all the four provinces will be selected through a dedicated committee of researchers under the auspices of PARC with members from all the provinces. Provincial agriculture departments will be asked to develop pre-basic and certified seed under the provisions of Seed Act 2015.

Fifty per cent subsidy will be provided for chickpea and mung bean seed while free-of-cost seed provision will be proposed for area expansion in case of mash and lentil in new locations. The Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department, pulses research institutes and extension departments will ensure that only certified seed has been supplied to farmers.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 21st, 2018