Daily Times

Over 269 metric tons of leguminous vegetables (pulses) valued at $239,000 were exported during the financial year that ended on June 30, 2024, as compared to the exports of 50 metric tons worth $49,000 in the corresponding period of last year.

During the period from July-June, 2023-24, the pulses exports witnessed about 383.90 per cent increase as compared to the exports of the same period of the last financial year, according to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, the imports of pulses into the country during the last financial year decreased by 18.10 per cent as it was recorded at 1.165 million tons costing $774.959 million as against the the imports of 1.135 million metric tons worth $946.176 million in the same period of last year. In order to reduce the reliance on imported pulses, the government has set a target to produce about 410 thousand metric tons of grams and 4.56 thousand tons of lentil pulses during the financial year 2024-25 to fulfill the domestic requirements of legumes as well as for exporting.

During the year 2024-25, chillies to be cultivated over 73.40 thousand hectares as the crop output has fixed over 191.10 thousand tons. Meanwhile, the output of other pulses including mung bean and mash has been fixed at 178.80 thousand tons and 8.60 metric tons respectively. During the season 2024-25, the gram crop to be cultivated over 865 thousand hectares, whereas the lentil pulse would be sown over 6.64 thousand hectares.

He said that the mung bean to be cultivated over 214.80 thousand hectares and mash over 11.05 thousand hectares during the period under review to fulfill the domestic requirements of leguminous vegetables.