ISLAMABAD:Mung bean would be cultivated over 189.3 thousand hectares of land in order to produce about 179.3 thousand tons of the commodity during current Kharif season to tackle with local requirements of pulse as well as for producing exportable surplus.
Mung was among the major pulses, which grown in irrigated areas with greater concentration in Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar and Layyah districts and there was great potential in central Punjab and Sindh to inter-crop mung bean with sugarcane, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
Talking to reporter here on Thursday, he said that short duration varieties of mung bean can be successfully grown as catch crop in rice-wheat cropping system to expand the area of cultivation and improve soil fertility.
There was a great potential in central Punjab and Sindh to inter-crop mung bean with spring plant sugarcane, he said adding the government was also taking measures to promote production of pulses in order to reduce the reliance on imported leguminous.
He further said that the mung bean would be grown over 172 thousand hectares in Punjab for producing about 162.8 thousand tons of the commodity, adding that in Sindh it would be sown over 2.8 thousand hectares to produce 6.3 thousand tons of the bean.
Meanwhile, the pulse sowing areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was fixed at 6.5 thousand hectares during current Kharif season, where as its production estimated at 4.4 thousand tons, he added.
In Balochistan, the mung bean would be cultivated over 8,000 hectares in order to produce over 6.3 thousand tons of the commodity for meeting the dietary requirements as well as increasing farm income of small land holders.