Improved variety of Arhar seeds from next Kharif season: Minister

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Monday said a new variety of Arhar (Pigeon Pea) seeds with shorter maturity period will be available to farmers from the Kharif season in June next year.

Radha Mohan Singh, along with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Monday went to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to inspect the new variety of pulses, PUSA Arhar-16, developed by the scientists.

"The traditional varieties take 170 days to mature (while) this new variety take less time to mature i.e 120 days only ... PUSA Arhar-16 is extra early maturing, semi-dwarf, determinate, high yielding variety and will be available to farmers from next Kharif season," said Singh in a statement.

Jaitley congratulated the scientists of ICAR for developing PUSA Arhar -16 and expressed the hope that the country would soon become self-sufficient in pulses.

According to data available with the Agriculture Ministry, pulses have recorded a gap of 15 per cent in production and consumption due to non-adoption of improved varieties and up to 34 per cent due to non-adoption of technology.

--IANS

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