Under this project, sprinkle irrigation system is being installed over 1700 acres of land on experimental basis for sowing of grams, with 75 percent expenses to be borne by the government and the rest will be contributed by the growers. Sponsored by the provincial government, the project will be implemented by the Directorate General Agriculture (Water Management) and other allied wings of the agriculture department.
Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday said that the project has been included in annual development program a cost of Rs 380.080 million and an amount of Rs 47.611 million has been allocated for 2017-18. The project is aimed at enhancing gram cultivation in Thal area and strengthening small farmers' resilience to droughts under changing climate. The key objectives of the project include save the gram crop from failure during drought conditions by providing life saving irrigation with sprinkler irrigation system, promote cultivation of pulses in the project area through developing site specific agronomic recommendations to enhance production of pulses for self sufficiency, sustain farm income / profitability of small landholders to improve their livelihoods and alleviate poverty under changing climate in Thal area besides capacity building of the farmers to cultivate pulses under extreme climate change events.
The proposed project interventions aim at pilot testing of sprinkler irrigation technologies for successful cultivation of pulses in the Thal desert and subsequently recommending a plan for sustainable cultivation of gram in these areas through lifesaving irrigations at appropriate growth stages with the sprinkler system. It would contribute in enhancing gram productivity, promote alternate crops like mung, gawar, mints, millets etc for increasing farm income, improving livelihood of people, enabling farmers to adjust the agriculture practices with varying environments, and alleviating poverty.
Under the emerging challenges of climate change, food security and water scarcity, increase in production of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables to meet the food requirement of increasing population is direly needed. In countries like Pakistan, majority of the people living in rural areas consume substantial quantity of pluses for meeting their daily meal needs because these are rich source of protein and substitute of other costly sources of protein - meat and fish. Major pulses include gram, lentil, mung and mash. The pulses are grown on 5% of the country's total cultivated area. Punjab contributes 80% in total production of the pulses in the country and occupies 5% of the total cropped area.
The agriculture sector has become extremely vulnerable to the climate change. During recent years, the production of all crops has been affected by the climatic changes, pulses are no exception. For instance, production of gram has been badly affected in severe drought season as its production totally depends upon the intensity and distribution of rainfall, being cultivated mostly in rain-fed areas.
Gram/Chickpea is one of the most important pulses used in the Punjab. It is valued for its nutritive seeds with high protein content. Chickpea seeds are eaten fresh as green vegetable, parched, fried, roasted, and boiled; as snack food, sweet and condiments; seeds are ground and the flour can be used as soup and to make bread; prepared with pepper, salt and lemon it is served as a side dish as well as dal chana is very popular.
Chickpea/gram is the major source of livelihood of rural people in the Thal desert of Punjab that is well known as home of chickpea because the area cannot support/sustain major cash crops due to low fertility and lack of irrigation. Its production entirely depends upon the intensity and distribution of rainfall.
Thal accounts for the bulk of production of this crop, cultivated on about 2.129 million acres during 201617. Gram/chickpea contribute 70-80% to the total pulses area and production. The total seasonal average crop water requirement of gram (Chickpea) has been calculated using the scientific method, which comes to about 275 mm (11 inch) and ranges from 250-315 mm (10-13 inch). The crop is, however, liable to lodging and disease with extra vegetative growth when there is high moisture and humid conditions.
The climatic uncertainty due to erratic rainfall in the Thal desert is the main obstacle in crop production under rain-fed conditions. During the drought periods, there is absolutely no produce and even the farmer has no seed to sow in the next year.
The major reasons for low yield of gram identified by the Arid Zone Research, Institute Bhakkar are poor sandy soils, erratic rainfall pattern, uneven rainfall distribution, small holdings, less or no access to quality seed, conventional agronomic practices and poor marketing system. Supplementary irrigation at critical stages of crop growth in required quantity plays a vital role in getting the high yield vis-à-vis production in Thal area, the sources concluded.