ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has introduced six new varieties of common bean, also known as the kidney bean, enabling the country to start production on commercial scale, WealthPK reported.
The achievement is part of a five-year programme initiated in 2019 to promote common bean production in Pakistan and promote research for pulse productivity enhancement.
Hafiz Asadullah, a scientific officer at the National Agriculture Research Centre’s pulses programme, told WealthPK that six new varieties of kidney bean have been introduced in Pakistan as part of a Rs1.4 billion project launched under the Public Sector Development Programme in 2019.
He said the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Peshawar, has introduced two varieties NIFA Lobia Red-22 and NIFA Yellow 22. “The potential yield of these new varieties is 2,000 kilogrammes per hectare.
Himalaya-1 variety has also been introduced by the agricultural research station, Baffa, Mansehra district, and its potential yield is 1,600kg per hectare.”
Hafiz Asadullah said agricultural research station, Swat, has introduced three varieties namely, Green Hills, Swat Red, and Gorilla. “The potential yield of these varieties is 1,400-1,600kg, 1,500kg and 2,000-2,200kg, respectively.
According to the NARC scientist, these varieties are available to farmers free of cost. “Under the PSDP project (2019-2024), farmers are being provided with seeds, irrigation technology, and pest management facilities.”
Hafiz Asadullah informed WealthPK that earlier around 80% of kidney bean was imported. However, under the pulse production enhancement programme, bean has been added as the 5th item of the initiative to promote its production locally.
According to the NARC official, these new varieties will play a critical role in increasing the overall production of common beans in the country.
The official said growers in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also being incentivised to boost production of these varieties.
It is to note here that shuttle multiplication has also been advocated for promotion of kidney beans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the scientists working on the pulse project, Pakistan has achieved self-sufficiency in moong bean production as it produced 267,000 tonnes versus a national requirement of 180,000 tonnes in 2021.
According to Pakistan Agriculture Research Council experts, the availability of high-quality seed from better cultivars is the most important component in reaching pulse self-sufficiency.
Bean is one of Pakistan’s most important pulses. It is also grown in the southern Punjab and Sindh provinces.
Punjab is the most important bean-growing province, accounting for 88% of overall production and 85% of total area. Bean cultivation is concentrated in Layyah, Bhakkar, Mianwali, and Rawalpindi districts of the province.
Even though it is grown in a variety of crop cycles, roughly 75% of it is planted in a bean-wheat crop rotation.
It is to mention here that the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture, Peshawar, in collaboration with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, has also introduced two new commercial common beans (Lobia) cultivars.
INP
