Increase in pulses yield essential: Experts

Crop is cultivated on 2.491 million acres in Punjab.

MULTAN: Punjab produces 0.42 million tonnes of pulses which is 80% of the total pulses production of the country, said an agriculture department official.

He said pulses were cultivated at 2.491 million acre land in the province. He said that increase in pulses production was need of the hour to meet the growing food need of the population and for the purpose, the department had introduced two-year project to increase pulses production with funds of Rs136.262 million.



He maintained under the project, the seeds of different pulses varieties were provided to growers on subsidy through Punjab Seed Corporation.

Besides, he said 240 multi-crop drills were also provided to farmers on subsidy for cultivation of pulses in lines.

Earlier, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council Chairman Dr Yusuf Zafar said the import of pulses worth billions of rupees may be reduced by developing quality seeds, promoting cultivation on large areas and an increase in per-acre production.

He said measures were being taken to increase pulses productivity to meet domestic needs.



Pakistan produces a surplus in major crops including wheat, rice, corn and sugarcane but per-acre production is very low compared to the rest of the world.

He emphasised the need for promoting crop management technologies with joint efforts of all stakeholders such as researchers, public and private sectors, government institutions and farmers.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2017.