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Regional opportunities for warm season grain legumes in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/2041/
 
Title Regional opportunities for warm season grain legumes in the Indo-Gangetic Plain
 
Creator Johansen, C
Ali, M
Gowda, C L L
Ramakrishna, A
Nigam, S N
Chauhan, Y S
 
Subject Chickpea
Pigeonpea
Groundnut
 
Description The major warm season grain legume crops grown in the region of the
Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) are pigeonpea, mung bean, block gram,
cowpea, groundnut, and soybean, There has been a general decline in
their area and production in the region over recent decades, coinciding
with intensification of cereal-dominated cropping systems such as the
rice-wheat rotation. Various abiotic, biotic, and socioeconomic
constraints can explain the poor performance of these legumes, relative to
that of cereals and cash crops. Further, there is little government price and
policy support for grain legumes, compared with the major cereals. These
legumes generally remain as subsistence crops, with a consequent
reluctance of farmers to invest in key inputs that could raise and stabilize
yields to economically competitive levels. Nevertheless, there is evidence
that the regional demand for the products (e.g., grain, vegetable oil, and
fuelwood) of these legumes remains or is increasing. Further, in view of
increasing questions about the long-term sustainability of cereal-based
monocropping, there is a rationale for substantially increasing the
proportion of legumes in cropping systems of the IGP. There is thus a case
for stimulating their production in the region.
There are several niches in the IGP where legume cultivation can be
substantially increased, particularly to take advantage of recent
improvements in genotype and agronomic practices. There are also
several recent location-specific examples, inside and outside of the region,
of dramatic improvements in production of grain legumes (e.g., mung bean in Pakistan); it is worthwhile analyzing the reasons for success with
a view to emulating the success in specific niches of the IGP. Invariably,
the way forward for each of these crops is to move towards
commercialization of their production, initiated by appropriate policy
incentives. It is concluded that there can be substantial increases in
production of these legumes in the IGP without undue competition with
rice or wheat. On the contrary, greater use of legumes in rice- and wheatbased
cropping systems should ultimately improve total system
productivity and sustainability.
 
Publisher ICRISAT
 
Date 2000
 
Type Book Section
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/2041/1/Regional_opportunities_for_warm_2000.pdf
Johansen, C and Ali, M and Gowda, C L L and Ramakrishna, A and Nigam, S N and Chauhan, Y S (2000) Regional opportunities for warm season grain legumes in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In: Legumes in rice and wheat cropping systems of the indo-gangetic plain - constraints and opportunities. ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India, pp. 185-199. ISBN 92-9066-418-5