Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) is a sturdy, high-yielding and nutritious pulse that is a boon for the resource-poor farmers tilling marginal, unirrigated lands. It grows under harshest conditions, including drought, when most other crops fail to survive. This has earned it the reputation of being a "safety net" or an "insurance crop" for farmers.
The risk of physical debility due to its consumption was attributed to the presence of a neuro-toxin known commonly as ß-ODAP (ß-N-oxalyl-L-a, ß-di-amino propionic acid) in its grains. Traditional varieties had a high ß-ODAP content of between 0.5 and 2.5 per cent, against less than 0.1 per cent deemed safe for consumption. Another, and more important, reason for this hazard was excessive intake of khesari due to scarcity or high prices of its alternatives. In some areas, farm labourers got khesari dal as part payment for their wages, thus, resulting in its over-consumption.
Since the bar has only been on its marketing - and not its cultivation or consumption - farmers have continued to grow it for self-consumption and feeding livestock. They even eat its succulent leaves as "sag". However, over-dependence on it as food has now stopped thanks to the improved availability of other foodgrains. Besides, people have learnt simple and effective ways of detoxifying khesari grains by boiling them and discarding the water or by soaking seeds overnight and draining away the excess water. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there has been no report from anywhere of any ill-effect of eating khesari dal for several decades.
This cheap pulse has, indeed, been in demand for some other reasons as well. It is used for adulterating arhar (pigeon pea) as also for admixing with gram to produce besan (refined gram flour) to improve its lustre and enhance crispiness of the products made from it. The absence of normal trading channels due to the existing ban has allowed the middlemen to exploit the growers by acquiring the stocks at throwaway prices, rather than the market-determined rates. The farmers are, therefore, denied the opportunity to realise better prices.
The low ß-ODAP grass pea is, in fact, useful for consumers from nutritional viewpoint. It contains 26 to 32 per cent high quality proteins apart from natural antioxidants which reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The new varieties bred by farm research institutes and agricultural universities, besides the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), have less than 0.1 per cent ß-ODAP and do not pose any health hazard. Three of these varieties - named Ratan, Prateek and Mahateora - which the government proposes to formally release for commercial cultivation after their safety assessment, have merely 0.05 to 0.08 per cent ß-ODAP - well below the safety threshold.
Indeed, the seeds of some of the improved strains of khesari have already reached the farmers. ICARDA, in partnership with other institutions and non-governmental organisations, has followed a unique method of introducing new khesari varieties. The seeds of local varieties with high toxin content are taken from all the khesari growers in a village and are replaced with new non-hazardous seeds free of cost. The old seeds, too, are crushed and returned to the farmers for use as livestock feed.
Removal of trade embargo can be expected to encourage poor farmers who cannot invest in cash inputs to grow grass pea as this crop requires no input other than the seeds. Hopefully, the political parties opposing revocation of the embargo would see logic and revisit their stands for the benefit of khesari growers as well as consumers.
surinder.sud@gmail.com