Pulses provide a significant part of India’s nutritional
needs. Yet India’s production of pulses has remained stagnant,
making the country increasingly dependent upon imports. This article
by Gayatri Kamath examines the several constraints and challenges
that face pulse cultivators in India
Come June every year, most Indian farmers look to the sky for signs
of rain. In India, the weather gods can be benign and rain bounty
or turn tail and wreck havoc on crops and fields. The process of
growing and cultivating crops has always been overshadowed by the
looming spectre of risk.
For centuries now, Indian farmers have adopted pulse cultivation
as a traditional way of mitigating this risk. Pulses are sown along
with a primary crop (wheat, cereal, oil seeds or cotton) so that
if some factor were to affect the main crop — a pest or disease
infection, a tardiness on the part of the rain gods, a drop in the
support price of wheat or cotton, etc, there is always the income
from the pulse crop to fall back on.
These past few decades have seen production of wheat, rice and
cotton rising steadily, thanks to strong support prices and subsidies
from the government, and the liberal inputs of high-yield seeds,
fertiliser and pesticides. Yet the domestic production of pulses
has increased slowly and has been outstripped by the growing demand
for pulses. India produced 12.7 million tonnes of pulses in 1960–61;
this figure peaked at 15.1 million tonnes in 2007–08, but domestic
consumption in 2007–08 was over 18 million tonnes. Over the
years, India has become increasingly dependent on pulse imports.
Fields and grassroots
The low rates of pulse production in India can be traced to low yields
per acre and the low acreage under pulses. There are several reasons
why pulse production has not grown in India. Some of these are historic,
and most can be directly traced to the poor connection between new
research and development and the practitioner out in the field. Yet
all these constraints are easily addressed. The challenges can be
categorised as follows:
Agroclimatic:
In India, pulses have traditionally been grown on non-irrigated, rainfed
land. Only 15 per cent of pulses are grown under irrigation (as compared
to 46 per cent of other food grains). Farmers sow pulse seeds in the
monsoon months and leave the rest to nature. The crop is negatively
affected by heavy rains, as the seeds undergo moisture stress, and
cold weather causes the flowers and pods to drop.
Biological:
Pulse crops are legumes; that is, they bear pods containing seeds.
The flowers and pods are extremely prone to heavy infestations of
weeds, pests and diseases that are unique to legumes. Pod borer,
pod fly, sterility and mosaic viruses, and wilt are the most common
infestations, destroying as much as 30 per cent of the standing
crop each year. Post-harvesting losses are also high, with moisture
and storage pests such as pulse beetles damaging the seeds.
Socio-economic:
The single biggest factor affecting pulse production is the fact
that pulse yields are much lower than other food crops. At 638 kilos
a hectare, India’s pulses yield is far below that of best-in-class
countries (USA, Canada), which produce about 1,800 kilos a hectare.
Over the years, rice and wheat yields have improved two-fold (and
even three-fold in the case of wheat) as a result of government
schemes and the green revolution effect that has brought better
seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, support prices, subsidies, etc within
the ambit of farmers. Yet pulse crop yields have remained at a level
of only 5–6 quintals per acre, very low compared to those of
rice (33 q/acre) or cotton (12 q/acre). Little wonder then that
most farmers focus on growing crops where returns are higher.
Knowledge-based:
There seems to be a yawning gap between what is achievable in pulse
production and the grassroots reality. Agricultural research in
India has produced several high-yield varieties (HYV) of pulse seeds
that can improve yields two-fold and are of shorter duration, thus
allowing farmers to grow two or even three crops in a year. Drought-tolerant
and disease-tolerant seeds are being developed that cut risk considerably.
Proper seed-treatment and crop-protection techniques are available
that can control disease and pest infestation. Changes in cropping
patterns (sowing three crops in a year, intercropping two crops,
etc) can dramatically improve farm revenues while positively impacting
soil quality and reducing the need for chemical fertilisers.
This knowledge has yet to be internalised by the farming community
in the same manner as has been happened with other food and cash
crops. There has been poor dissemination of knowledge and research
between the academic world and the practitioners of pulse cultivation.
Infrastructural:
What pulse farmers in India lack are strong local communities that
can work together in several ways to benefit the participants by accomplishing
the following:
|
|
Pooling resources and information |
|
|
Developing seed banks for quality seeds |
|
|
Setting aside areas for quality seed production |
|
|
Identifying new lands that are fallow and can be brought under
pulse cultivation |
|
|
Propagating the benefits of intercropping and multiple cropping |
|
|
Spreading awareness of the nitrogen-fixation benefit of pulse
crops |
|
|
Developing micro-credit and crop insurance schemes, and so
on. |
The government has taken the first step towards strengthening pulse
cultivation by setting up several initiatives under the Ministry
of Agriculture: a technology mission for oilseeds, pulses and maize,
a national pulses development project, and a national food security
mission. But what is needed is the creation of local pulse growers'
associations that can build knowledge bases and resources.
The need for support
Pulse crops are environmentally sustainable and have a positive impact
on the land. Growing on non-irrigated land, they use less water. With
a natural ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and thereby increase
the nitrogen content of the soil, they reduce the need for fertilisers
and enhance the arable quality of the soil. They also mitigate global
warming by lowering the levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides
in the air. Pulses are 18–24 per cent protein, thus providing
India’s population with an alternative to animal-based protein
(meat, eggs, and milk).
By increasing acreage under pulses, and improving pulse crop yields,
India can achieve self-sufficiency in pulses and reduce its import
bill. For this, pulse farmers in India need support from two different
sources: 1) the government, in the form of subsidies, inputs, access
to quality seeds, information and price support, and 2) the research
community, in the form of credible information, new techniques,
new seed varieties, etc.
By supporting pulse cultivation, India not only works towards averting
a shortage crisis in pulses, it also builds domestic food capability
and reduces the agricultural community’s dependence on crops
that require high inputs of water, nutrition and protection. This
has to be India’s second green revolution, long overdue.
|
