Farmers set example in rajma cultivation

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 11

Farmers of the district have set an example by successfully cultivating rajma (red kidney beans), though the crop is not yet recommended by Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.

District agriculture officials said the crop was cultivated on a total area of 650 acres in the district. The cultivation of the crop locally was started by a progressive farmer from Mannawala, Surinder Singh, who had sown the crop on 15 acres last year. Singh had turned to the crop after running his own trials over the past few years.

Encouraged with his success, a large number of farmers had preferred to cultivate rajma instead of late- sown wheat varieties after harvesting of the potato crop.

Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Balwinder Singh Chinna said: “The farmers have earned more profits than the wheat crop. The yield of late-sown wheat varieties was merely 12-13 quintal per acre this year. The yield of rajma came out to be 7-8 quintals but due to much more market price, the farmers earned more than double of wheat.”

He said agriculture officers had provided technical know-how to the farmers.

“We are amazed to see that the farmers have developed new tools and modified old machines to use it on rajma fields. Even the harvesting of the crop was done with combine harvesters, normally used for wheat and paddy by making minor changes in machines,” he said.

Officials of the district administration, including Sub Divisional Magistrate RK Polpi, visited various of these fields near Mannawala today so as to get first-hand information from farmers which could be helpful in devising a policy to promote the crop.