Farming of pulse and pulse-like nitrogen-fixing (NF) crops has been decreasing in recent times in Rajshahi. As a result, people of the region are being deprived of vegetable-protein consumption and the soil is losing fertility.
According to sources from the Agricultural Extension Department (DAE) in Rajshahi, the cultivation of NF plants like Mung bean, Maskalai, Lentil and Grams has dropped to 3,260 hectares against some 4,000 hectares of land last year.
Rajshahi Agriculture Office sources informed the NF plants Mungbean, Maskalai, Gram and Lentil are widely cultivated in Bangladesh, India and most of the countries of Southeast Asia, South America and Australia. In Bangladesh, some 34,000 metric tonnes of Mungbean and Maskalai are produced in around 56,000 hectares of land annually.
In Rajshahi, the production of Mungbean, Lentil, Gram and Maskalai had dropped because of excessive heat and want of water (rainfall) last year and this year. The average temperature for a sound production of mungbean is 30 to 35 degrees Celsius but after the sowing of mungbean, Maskalai and Lentil seeds, the average temperature remained above 35 degrees last year and there was no timely rainfall. As a result, the Mungbean, Maskalai and Lentil cultivation in the district faced a setback. Agriculture Extension department sources in Rajshahi informed that varieties of Mungbean including Kanti, Pragati, Rupsa, BARI Mung-5, Taiwani BINA mung, and Mungbean are produced in the country. Moreover, there are varieties of Lentil, Gram and Maskalai that are also cultivated by the farmers of the country. One to one and a half tonnes of Mungbean, Maskalai and Lentil are produced in a hectare of land on average.
Other NF crops like Soyabean, Pea, Kalai and dhaincha are also decreasing in the country resulting in a loss of natural nitrogen in the soil. According to sources, two groups of herbaceous and woody plants can fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, legumes and actinomycetes. Leguminous crops like mungbean, pulse, pea and soybean with the help of Rhizobium bacteria, form nodules in the roots of their host plants.
The plants provide the bacteria with carbohydrates for energy and a stable environment for growth, while the bacteria give the plants usable nitrogen and other essential nutrients. The rest of the soil and succeeding plants benefit from the nitrogen and other rich compounds exuded from the nodules, and from the recycling of the nitrogen as the plant drops its leaves or decays.
The NF plant nodules increase the fertility of the soil by depositing nitrogen there. Due to the decrease of cultivation of NF plants and crops, the soil fertility of the Rajshahi region is depleting and the use of chemical fertilisers is increasing. The fall in the cultivation of NF plants like Pulse, Mungbean and Pea is also decreasing the vegetable-protein intake of poor people. As a result, the nation is losing both plant-based protein and nutrients.
