18.02.2013 Views

I - --ii

I - --ii

I - --ii

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Proceedings of the Workshop on Ascochya Blight and Winter Sowing ofChickpeas (Saxena, M.C<br />

and Singh. K.B.. eds.), ICARDA, 4-7 May 198i. Aleppo. Syria<br />

Chickpea Production in Pakistan<br />

BASHIR AHMED MALIK and M. TUFAIL<br />

Coordinator, Pulses, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad, Pakistan;<br />

Gram Botanist, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan, respectively.<br />

Chickpea is widely cultivated as a postmonsoon winter crop in Pakistan. In the<br />

world, Pakistan ranks second to India in terms of area occupied by chickpea.<br />

Chickpea accounts quantitatively for a small portion of the country's total food<br />

supply, but its qualitative importance is quite significant in supplementing food<br />

nutrients in the dietary requirements of a great majority of the population. As<br />

human food it is eaten raw, boiled, roasted, or as green vegetable, as well as dhal<br />

(dry pulse after splitting). It provides a balanced diet when eaten as dhal in<br />

combination, specially with cereals. It is also one of the major constituents of<br />

various sweets. Its dry stalks and husks containing small broken pieces of grain<br />

during milling, are fed to animals.<br />

Area, Distribution, Production and Yield<br />

Chickpea is grown all over Pakistan but its cultivation is concentrated in selected<br />

areas. Ecologically, Pakistan can be divided into three chickpea producing<br />

regions:<br />

Northern Region: It has high rainfall, and surface irrigation facilities also<br />

exist, but chickpea is mainly grown under rainfed conditions.<br />

Central Region: It has highy fertile soils but the climate is mostly semi-arid.<br />

Production is mostly aided by surface irrigation but chickpea is also grown under<br />

rainfed conditions. This region can be divided into two distinct tracts, differing in<br />

rainfall, soil fertility, and geophysical features as follows: (1) Western (includes<br />

Sargodha, Mianwali, parts of Attock and Jhelum), 6-84 mm/month summer<br />

rainfall, 3-13 mm/month in winter; it is a low rainfall tract. (2)Eastern (includes<br />

Rawalpindi and Sialkot), 26-374 mm/month summer rainfall, 23-65 mm/<br />

month in winter. High rainfall tract.<br />

Southern Region: Rainfall is scanty and agriculture is totally under irrigated<br />

229<br />

Previous Page Blank

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!