'Moong output can grow by 3 MT by adopting BISA's tech'

India can grow additional three three million tonnes of moong by promoting cultivation of the legume crop in rice-wheat growing states such as Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, a top official of the Borlough Institute of South Asia (BISA) said today.
The institute has developed a new cropping method, under which a short-duration moong crop can be sown in a wheat field just before the wheat crop is harvested.
Moong production is around 1.5 million tonnes (MT) out of total pulses output of 19.27 MT. The country imports about 3-4 million tonnes to meet the domestic demand.
"Currenlty, 10 million hectares is under rice-wheat cropping system. Even if we bring 5 million hectares under relay cropping, moong production can be increased to three million tonnes," BISA Director General H S Gupta said.

Promoting sowing of moong in between two cereal crops will increase sustainability of rice-wheat crops in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Moong can be sown in 60-65 days and yields are expected to be 8-10 quintals per hectare.
Groundwater level is fast depleting and rice/wheat yields have also come down in these three states due to monocropping of rice-wheat in last few decades, he added.

On advantages of relay cropping of moong, Gupta said that growing the legume crop into wheat field not only improves carbon foot prints but also reduces nitrogen pollution of ground water.
"After harvesting of wheat, residual nitrogen goes deep into soil and pollutes groundwater. Moong crop absorbs this nitrogen," he said.

That apart, it also improves the productivity of wheat by one tonne and reduces huge yield reduction and quality loss of wheat crop due to terminal heat stress particularly at the time of grain filling, he added.
Stating that there will be a difficulty in sowing moong when the wheat is at maturing stage, Gupta said, "High clearance tractor and relay seeders are required to do the sowing operation. This will cost farmers over Rs 80,000. This is a challenge that the state governments should address.