ISLAMABAD: The government has established a target of cultivating pulses across 874,000 hectares during the current Rabi season as the initiative is driven by the dual objectives of meeting domestic demand and reducing reliance on imported commodities, thus safeguarding essential foreign exchange reserves of the country.
During the period under review, it has been planned to cultivate gram pulses on over 860,000 hectares and lentils on 14,000 hectares, respectively, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MoNFSR).
In alignment with these objectives, the production targets for pulses, encompassing gram and lentil varieties, have been set at over 419,000 tons to meet the domestic demand for legumes, he added.
The Punjab Province aims to cultivate gram pulse on 786,000 hectares, yielding an estimated 322,000 tons, he said adding gram pulses are projected to cover 22,000 hectares in Sindh, yielding approximately 23,000 tons of this leguminous crop. Simultaneously, gram pulses are slated for cultivation on 30,000 hectares in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 40,000 hectares in Balochistan provinces, with anticipated yields of 15,000 tons and 49,000 tons respectively, he added.
Meanwhile, it is anticipated that lentils will be cultivated on 14,000 hectares, resulting in an approximate production of 9,000 tons, he said adding that the major chunk of this pulse was being imported to comply with the local requirements.
To elaborate further, he said that Punjab’s mandate for lentil production is 3,000 tons, requiring cultivation on 4,000 hectares, while in Sindh, cultivation on 3,000 hectares is projected to yield 2,000 tons. Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces are expected to cultivate lentils on 4,000 hectares and 2,000 hectares respectively, yielding approximately 2,000 tons and 1,000 tons of pulses during the season, he added.
