CHAKWAL, July 21: After being pushed to the wall by the poor yield of Rabi crops — due to dry weather — the farmers of Chakwal were not able to sow the peanut crop on time. Forcing them to sell the seed in the open market.

The farmers were under a pall of gloom as fields were lying deserted but now with the Monsoon rains lashing the length and breadth of the country, a ray of hope emerged in the form of cluster beans, a crop which used to be sown as additional fodder in the district and was considered trivial, before this year.

However unexpected and unprecedented price hike of cluster beans witnessed in 2011 attracted the attention of farmers.

Cluster beans also called guar and locally known as gowara is a bushy crop growing five to eight feet in height. This crop was introduced in India in 1903.

Cluster beans are cultivated for gum production and galactomannan gum is made from its seed. So the product is used in paper and gum industry.

The farmers of Rawalpindi division and its adjacent areas used to cultivate cluster beans just as additional fodder and they sow this crop along with jowar and bajra. Before 2010 the average price of this crop was Rs800 to 900 per 40 kg.

In 2010 due to destructive rains the yield of cluster beans had been severely affected in China, India, Malaysia and other countries, which forced the governments of these countries to import the seeds of cluster beans from Pakistan.

The overwhelming demand caused an unprecedented price hike in the usual rate of the crop and it was sold at a hefty rate of Rs16,000 to Rs19,000 per 40 kg.

Now farmers are trying their best to sow the crop utilising maximum land with the hope that this year, too, its rate would skyrocket. The sudden demand for seeds has caused a shortage and the poor farmers are going from pillar to post searching for seeds.

Some seed dealers who have the seeds are making the most of farmers’ need and they are selling it at exorbitant rates.

“My Rabi crops were very poor due to the dry spell and I also could not sow peanuts as there was no moisture in the land. Now with the recent rains the land is wet and I want to sow gowara,” yearns Mohammad Afzal, a farmer.

He said he was facing problems in getting seed. “I appeal to Chief Minister of Punjab for providing subsidy on seed”.

Talking to Dawn, District Officer Agriculture (technical) Dr Khalid Mehmood said price of cluster beans would be less than that of last year as it had been cultivated in large areas of Punjab and Sindh.

“The average rate of cluster beans would be Rs15,000 per 100kg”, he predicted. — Nabeel Anwar Dhakku