THE chickpea (gram) crop — grown predominantly in rainfed areas of Punjab — has been hit by low per acre yield for the past few years. Growers complain about water scarcity, poor quality seed and lack of the government’s focus to improve yield of minor crops.

However, farmers who had sown chickpea in four key districts of Punjab: Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah and Jhang in September/October 2016, felt relieved after the first rains lashed their farmlands.

The crop yield had suffered because of the changing weather pattern: heat stress, less rains and absence of drought-tolerant varieties of chickpea seeds.

The Punjab Crop Reporting Service shows that chickpea was sown over approximately 2.224m acres in semi-desert districts of Thal- Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah, Jhang, Bahawalpur and Mianwali during Sept-Oct 2016. The annual target set for current crop is 550,000 tonnes.

The 2015-16 harvest had produced 227,000 tonnes chickpea against the annual target of 600,000 tonnes.

Interestingly, the Punjab Agriculture Research Board (PARB) started a five-year trial project for improving chickpea productivity in 2010 at an estimated cost of Rs37.3m in Faisalabad and Bhakkar but it is still in research trial mode with no successful outcome.

Agriculture experts are of the view that the chickpea is highly-tolerant to drought but it still requires some minimum quantity of water. However, research institutes such as the Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology and Aarif are spending millions on drought tolerant varieties without any success

A senior PARB official claimed their part of the project was completed in September 2015 with partial funding and now the second part of the project is with the Punjab Seed Council for two-year national trial. This will be followed up by a two-year seed multiplication process before going into commercial operations.

But PARB’s website, as of Jan 17, showed the same project under its ongoing projects for FY2016-17.

The official acknowledges the record production of 868,000 tonnes with the highest provincial average yield of 794kg/ha (329.5kg/acres) out of the largest area of 956.4 thousands hectares (396,680 acres) was recorded in 2005-06 owing to favourable weather conditions.

He says innovative work is already done and now commercialisation of seed is in progress.

He claims with the new drought-tolerant variety in place, the cultivated area will expand with more nutritious gram and less imports. The latest variety will contract lesser negative impact of drought than the existing varieties.

However, the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute Faisalabad (Aarif) website, which depicts the scientists working on the drought tolerant varieties of chickpea are baffled; no such drought-tolerant variety is currently available in the market.

Agriculture experts, whom Dawn spoke to, are of the view that the chickpea is naturally highly-tolerant to drought but it still requires some minimum quantity of water. However, research institutes such as Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) and Aarif are spending millions on drought tolerant varieties without any success.

Punjab Crop Reporting Service Director Muhammad Anwer Baig says the germination of crop is still improving, but a couple of good rain spells are needed to avoid low yield or crop failure.

He says rain in the current month can be beneficial for gram sown in irrigated and plain lands (which constitute around 9pc of the total gram sowing area in Punjab), but late rain may not positively impact the crop sown in sand dunes and inter-dunal valleys as the rain moisture in December usually is more effective in improving the size and weight of grain.

He says the crop has not been achieving targets for the last three years and the country’s consumption requirement of about 550,000 tonnes is being met through imports.

Baig says Punjab produces about 92pc of the country’s total chickpea.

He suggests that the provincial government’s plans to launch sprinkle irrigation system can be helpful for rain-fed areas as water table is much below the required level there.

“I have grown chickpea on 100 acres of land with an average expense of Rs15,000-20,000 per acre but lack of rains makes me upset. One rain spell can give me hope for a better crop and may cover up my expense per acre”, says Sami Ullah Khan of Kallur Kot, Bhakkar.

Khan says one good rain is required for chickpea fields in coming 15-20 days; otherwise per acre yield will fall.

Khan further says weeds and diseases are also a continuous headache for chickpea growers in each season and goes on to add that the local varieties like Bittal-98, C-44, and Punjab-91 depend on rain water.

He further says they do not find any drought tolerant variety in the local market.

Another grower, Khan Zaman of Jandanwala Bhakkar, says the Jan 15 rain has created much moisture in the soil and the gram crop will at least cover the expense.

Zaman, who has grown the crop on 70 acres of land, says he has never seen the bumper crop except in 2012 – which gave the farmers 500kg of gram yield per acre. He says he used 21 sacks of seed on 70 acres of land and each sack cost him Rs15,000 which remained expensive as compared to last year’s price.

He says the government is still providing traditional varieties which hardly produce 100kg per acre using 30-33kg seed in the majority of cultivating areas. He adds, the government needs to ensure availability of cheaper seeds and other inputs and ground water to growers.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, January 23rd, 2017