States aim 30L hectares acreage under hybrid pigeonpea by '18

Various states and International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has set target of acreage of over 30 lakh hectares under hybrid pigeonpea by 2018.
Over 40 participants, including government officials from five states (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha), state agricultural universities, farmer representatives and eight seed companies involved in the production of hybrid seeds attended a meeting at ICRISAT to discuss expansion of hybrid pigeonpea cultivation.
"ICRISAT and state officials chalked out the detailed strategy for the rainy season of 2016 for popularising hybrid pigeonpea cultivates in different states as well as the plans for seed production to cover larger areas during 2017-18.

The detailed work plan till 2018 aims to cover an area of over three million hectares under pigeonpea cultivation," a statement by ICRISAT said today.
Shobhana K Pattanayak, Secretary, Agriculture, Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DoAC & FW), among others also attended the meeting.
The meet recognised popularisation of hybrid pigeonpea across the country is one of the key solutions as the country is keen to be self-sufficient in pulse production and to overcome the under supply and export costs, the statement added.

"We need to popularise the pigeonpea hybrids in major pigeonpea producing states of India, and this action plan has to address the issue of seed production and availability of hybrid seeds to the farmers," said Pattanayak.

"In order to meet its ever-growing demand for pulses, India needs to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses. We need to make pulses production more profitable by reducing production costs through mechanisation, using hybrids and minimising the post-harvest losses," David Bergvinson, ICRISAT Director General said during his address to participants via video conference from USA.
Talking about ICRISAT's extensive research in pulses, Bergvinson said hybrid pigeonpea is the world's only hybrid among the legumes, which was developed by ICRISAT along with its partners in research over the last 30 years.