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Journalism of Courage
Punjab has a new official crop: summer moong. Thank the skyrocketing prices of pulses around Rs 100 per kg and the Punjab Preservation of Sub Soil Water Act,2009,under which farmers cannot sow paddy before June 15,for this.
In just a years time after it was officially introduced,the crop is set to command an area of one lakh hectares 10 times more than its acreage during the prevalent season. Around 60,000 hectares has been added this year only.
Moong dal was officially introduced in the state by the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) only last year. Its season has already started and we will dedicate over one lakh hectares to the crop, said Joint Director,Pulses Food Security Mission,Dr Gurdial Singh.
The area under summer moong has increased 10 times more then the area under the crop during the prevalent moong season,which is from May-end to July, added Dr Singh.
Sources said that acreage under moong dal have never gone beyond 10,000 to 11,000 hectares.
Deputy Project Director,ATMA,Dr Naresh Gulati said that before the 2009 Act was passed,the farmers of the state,after harvesting wheat in April,would either resort to early paddy sowing during peak summer in May or leave their fields without any crop for a month.
With early paddy being a water guzzler,the government passed the Punjab Preservation of Sub Soil Water Act so that paddy is grown close to rainy season,that is in mid-June.
However,following the new Act,the fields would remain vacant for two months,from mid-April to mid-June. Which is why ATMA introduced the summer moong,which takes 60 to 65 days to get ready,so as to increase the farmers income and fertility of fields, said Dr Gulati.
Nearly four to five quintals of pulses can be grown on an acre of land after spending Rs 6,000 to 7000. A farmer can thus earn Rs 40,000 to 50,000 from every acre in two months, said Dr Gulati.
An experiment
The state agriculture department has carried out an experiment with moong dal by sowing it in wheat fields in February-end. Around five demonstration plots have been sown in Jalandhar this time. The crop would be harvested in April after the wheat season is over.
