TOBA TEK SINGH: Agricultural experts have successfully inter-cropped mung-bean, a pulse, and sugarcane on 17 acres of land of farmers at Chak-314 JB, Bariaran, near Gojra.

Ayub Research Institute Legume (Faisalabad) agronomist and field officer of Government Citrus Research Institute, Sargodha, Dr Asghar Ali, told this correspondent during a visit to the fields at Chak-314 JB, where the both crops were grown side by side, that inter-cropping would not only help improve the mung-bean production, but it would also rehabilitate the soil and give the farmers an extra crop.

Scores of farmers were invited to the fields to provide them with technical information about the inter-cropping practice and to show them a healthy mung-bean crop. A delegation of agriculture experts was also invited there.

The inter-cropping of mung-bean and sugarcane was initiated first time in the district in 2014 under Agriculture Innovation Programme funded by USAID and implemented by The World Vegetable Centre-Pakistan with the help of their working partner Ayub Pulses Research Section.

Dr Ali told the farmers on the occasion there was a great potential of improving mung-bean production in the district through inter-cropping it with sugarcane which was being grown on around 80,000 acres there.

Pulses Section Director Chaudhry Rafiq said the inter-cropping was very beneficial for farmers. He pledged his all out cooperation in this regard to the farmers.

Experts said the farmers could easily earn Rs30,000 to Rs35,000 per acre yield by inter-cropping as mung-bean crop matured within just 75 to 80 days, while sugarcane was a whole-year crop.

They said the mung-bean also left very useful nitrogen fertilizer in the soil which was beneficial for not only sugarcane but also for other crops.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2015

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