After arhar, government plans to expand area under new moong variant

The moong variety has cleared all the field trials and has been circulated among farmers, gives an average yield of 10-12 quintals per hectare

After arhar, the government is now planning to expand the acreage under a new moong (Green Gram) variety, which, just like the newly launched arhar variant, takes lesser time to mature and produces better quality crop.

The moong variety, which has cleared all the field trials and has been circulated among farmers, gives an average yield of around 10-12 quintals per hectare, almost the same as the existing available variants, but more importantly matures in around 52-53 days as against all the current varieties which take 65-70 days to mature.

The window of 12-20 days gives farmers ideal time to prepare the field for the next crop and could expand its reach in areas where moong is traditionally not grown. The Centre plans to bring around 1 million hectares of land of the total 2-4 million hectares under “summer moong” this year, of which almost five per cent could be under the new variant.

 

Called IPM-205-7 or ‘Virat’, this moong is ideal for growing in the summer season after wheat is harvested. 

Officials said though the new moong not only takes lesser time to mature, but the grains are bolder and shinier than the existing varieties, which is expected to fetch growers better price in the market.

“We have started distributing this moong variety among farmers and it has been notified few months back; our target is to expand its area in the coming summer moong season, sowing for which will start around April,” N P Singh, director of Kanpur-based Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR) said. 

Moong is one of main pulses grown in the country and India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of moong.

Moong is cultivated both during the kharif and rabi seasons and the annual production is 1.5-2.0 million tonnes, which is 10-12 per cent of country’s total annual pulses production. In summer season, moong is grown mostly in the North, while in winters it is cultivated in southern parts of the country.

Earlier, this month, the Central government unveiled a brand new dwarf arhar variety called the PUSA Arhar – 16, which if successful could solve the perennial shortage of arhar in the country. 

Unveiled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the pulses variety has been developed by scientists of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research.

PUSA-Arhar 2016, gives a per hectare yield of around 20 quintals, the same as many existing arhar varieties, but matures in around 120 days, roughly around four months, while all current arhar varieties mature in around 170-180 days, while some even take longer.

Not only this, the crop also grows into synchronised maturity, which means that the pod size are uniform and flat. The Centre plans to release this variety by January to enable farmers to plant this crop in the next kharif season.