Project report for Horse gram Cultivation

Horse gram is an important crop of South India. Its grain is used for human consumption as ‘dal’ as well as in preparation of so called ‘rasam’ and also as a concentrated feed for cattle. It may also be used as green manure. This crop is generally grown when the cultivator is unable to sow any other crop for want of timely rains and also grown in vacant space of citrus orchard. Horse gram is mainly cultivated in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, M.P., Chhattisgarh, Bihar, W.B., Jharkhand, and in foot hills of Uttaranchal and H.P., in India. Horse gram is an underutilized legume crop. It is grown in 3.26 lakh ha (Fuller and Murphy, 2018) during Rabi season under dry and marginal land conditions by resource poor farmers in India. Horse gram has a typical papilionaceous petal orientation under normal growing conditions. India is the largest producer, 25% of world’s production, and consumer 27% of total pulses of the world. The domestic production is often less than the estimated demand i.e. 23- 24 million tons. Studies on consumption pattern has revealed that in India only 8-10 million tons of pulses are used directly as a food item (Dal), the remaining 12 million tons being indirect actual consumption as processed/value added products such as snacks, fast food for domestic consumption and export. Thus the average gap of 05 MT is met through imports. In India, the share of pulses to gross cropped area and in total food grains basket is about 12 percent and 6-7 per cent respectively.

The global pulses market reached a volume of 115.3 Million Tons in 2020. Pulses is a major source of protein for a huge section of state particularly vegetarian population. India, with a share of 22 per cent, is the largest producer of pulses in the world. But the production of pulses has not been able to keep pace with their domestic demand, resulting in imports of 2-3 million tons of pulses per annum. Closing the gap between demand and supply of pulses would require production to grow at least by 4 per cent per annum. During recent years people are recognizing the nutrient superiority and health benefits of pulses compared to other grains. There may be an increase in demand for pulses due to recent inclusion of pulses in food security bill coupled with increased awareness of people about inclusion of pulses in daily meals for healthy living and also pulses are ideal solution for climate change. So, there is a need to increase the pulse production with the increasing demand and to recognize them as climate change complaint crops to promote their cultivation and consumption which makes them state food and farming future.