THE failure of gram crop has doubled its prices. Frost and drought hit the crop and reduced the yield to almost half of the national consumption.
With 50 per cent short of supply of the domestic demand, prices have shot up from around Rs50 per kg last year and are currently creeping beyond Rs100 per kilogramme.
The farmers have lost their six month’s labour. In the barrani belt, the failure is abject — those farmers who have enough production to recover seed and some expenses consider themselves lucky.
For the urban poor, they have been robbed of their only source of cheap but wholesome diet — it contains 22 per cent protein, 63 per cent carbohydrates, 46 per cent starch, five per cent fats, seven per cent fibre and six per cent sugar. Out of total one million tons of pulses requirements, gram accounts for 85 to 90 per cent. That explains the problem of the urban poor.
This year, frost and drought — two calamities for gram— took turn on the crop. In December and January, farm temperatures fell below zero. To make matter worse, next four months witnessed drought-like conditions. As a result, production of gram has fallen to less than 300,000 tons — 50 per cent of the total national requirement that is estimated at over 600,000 tons. The price is thus reflecting the supply gap.
The crisis is expected to worsen in next two months as the holy month of Ramazan arrives when nationwide gram consumption peaks in urban areas.
What the policymakers have failed to realise during the last six decades is that gram is too important a crop to be left to seasonal and knee-jerk reactions. The gram statistics make it clear: as far as acreage is concerned, it is the fifth largest crop after wheat (22 million acres), cotton (eight million acres), rice (six million acres) and maize (three million acres). It is sown on 2.7 million acres, which is more than the much celebrated cane crop, which covers 2.2 million acres.
The crop needs a national policy. Both, frost and drought have not hit the crop for the first time. Since crop covers late Rabi and early Kharif, both these cycles are part of crop life. Mainly a rain-fed areas’ crop, gram suffers two other problems: poor seed quality and irregular water supply. Both these problems have been there for last six decades, without any solution.
No multinational or a local private company deals in gram seed, leaving over 70 per cent of farmers with traditional varieties, which have become highly susceptible to every kind of diseases — fungi, bacteria, nematodes and viruses. Though, the Punjab Seed Corporation (PSC) claims to have been selling certified gram seed, its role is still to make any significant impact.
The entire production in Punjab, which contributes over 80 per cent of national yield, is concentrated in barani (rain-fed) districts of Layyah and Bhakkar with least developed irrigation infrastructure. Agriculture experts believe if the government or farmers somehow can ensure one watering at the most crucial stage of the crop maturity, the production could easily be doubled. Some of the farmers are still getting around 15 maunds per acre yield because of good agronomics and better watering against a majority still stuck at six to seven maunds per acre for the last six decades. China did so by developing mobile water tanks, why not Pakistan?
As far as diseases are concerned, experts believe one way of dealing with them could be by stopping cultivation of gram in the area for three to four years, which can break the pest cycle and help gram grow better.
The government should help farmers improve the agronomical practices. Since soil in rain-fed areas is largely uneven, fields’ preparation becomes even crucial. Deep sowing with drills is the most desirable practice as traditional sowing (throwing the seed) drastically reduces yield.
Until the government develops a policy and executes it well, the farmers and the urban poor can only pray for better weather to keep their income and health intact.