For last one year, the sky-rocketing price of lentils has been disturbing everybody as it happens to be an important ingredient of the traditional Indian thali whether you are in Northern or Southern part of the country. Can a Gujarati live without dal-bati? Will anybody in south tolerate sambhar disappearing from his menu? On the other hand, in Bihar and Bengal legume is the inseparable partner of shining white rice in the plate on the dining table. If you are in Mithilanchal part of Bihar and it is an occasion festive or hosting an important guest, any lentil will not do, it has to be arhar dal, sprinkled with desi ghee. If in such societies dal goes beyond the reach of common man, the bickerings are bound to be there.
In this backdrop, the search of a new variety of arhar dal by the agro-scientists has come as a much awaited good news. The scientists of Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa have brought into being an audable variety which is scoring multi-sided improvements on the traditional breed. In Bihar and UP farmers plant the traditional crop in June/July and harvest it after 250-280 days in March/April. The new variety takes only 120 days and gives the same 20 quintal yield per hectare. Normally in Bihar, the field of arhar remains engaged for nearly ten months which makes arhar costly. When the maturing period is shortened, the field is available for some other crop to the benefit of the farmer.
Going a step further, it is said that the traditional plant is taller with several branches which not only creates problem in spraying pesticides but the grains do not ripe at a time. As a result at the time of harvesting, some branches may have still raw grains while others will be in flowering stage itself, causing loss to the farmer. The new crop plants are short and straight which make spraying exercises easier and the grains of the whole plant matures simultaneously. Though not popular in South, this crop is grown also in Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh etc. For the timebeing, the research centre is giving seeds to Punjab to grow it and if successful, even registered private units will be allowed to produce it for seeds. It is hoped that the cultivation of arhar of this new breed will start on mass scale by 2018 and will be available to the people at large for consumption. It will no more remain a luxury for the common man. The country will feel obliged and urge upon these scientists to explore avenues to enhance products of other crops as well. Its patenting is bound to bring us sufficient foreign exchange as some other countries are also having arhar cultivation.
In this backdrop, the search of a new variety of arhar dal by the agro-scientists has come as a much awaited good news. The scientists of Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa have brought into being an audable variety which is scoring multi-sided improvements on the traditional breed. In Bihar and UP farmers plant the traditional crop in June/July and harvest it after 250-280 days in March/April. The new variety takes only 120 days and gives the same 20 quintal yield per hectare. Normally in Bihar, the field of arhar remains engaged for nearly ten months which makes arhar costly. When the maturing period is shortened, the field is available for some other crop to the benefit of the farmer.
Going a step further, it is said that the traditional plant is taller with several branches which not only creates problem in spraying pesticides but the grains do not ripe at a time. As a result at the time of harvesting, some branches may have still raw grains while others will be in flowering stage itself, causing loss to the farmer. The new crop plants are short and straight which make spraying exercises easier and the grains of the whole plant matures simultaneously. Though not popular in South, this crop is grown also in Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh etc. For the timebeing, the research centre is giving seeds to Punjab to grow it and if successful, even registered private units will be allowed to produce it for seeds. It is hoped that the cultivation of arhar of this new breed will start on mass scale by 2018 and will be available to the people at large for consumption. It will no more remain a luxury for the common man. The country will feel obliged and urge upon these scientists to explore avenues to enhance products of other crops as well. Its patenting is bound to bring us sufficient foreign exchange as some other countries are also having arhar cultivation.
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