First machine harvestable chickpea variety NbeG 47 released

The first machine harvestable chickpea variety, NBeG 47 was released in Andhra Pradesh on 4 February 2016. It was released by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT).

The normal process of harvesting 2.25 tons of chickpea takes three days while the new variety will be harvested in just 75 minutes by the standard machinery.

This is made possible due to the breeding of a taller chickpea variety that is suitable for machine harvest which would be cost effective and quicker.

More research efforts are underway to develop machine harvestable chickpea varieties suited for other parts of India like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

About Chickpea variety, NBeG 47

• The new variety was developed through a project titled Developing chickpea varieties suitable for machine harvesting and tolerant to herbicides.

• It was funded by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under National Food Security Mission of Union Ministry of Agriculture.

• This was developed to address the issue of labor shortage on farms and reduce hard work, especially for women laborers.

• This development was demonstrated fields of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.

• This variety was developed by Doctor Veera Jayalakshmi, the Principal Scientist for Chickpea Breeding at Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University with support from ICRISAT.

• The breeding material and technical support for developing this variety was provided by ICRISAT.

• This is better for the health of the laborers, especially women as handling the crop causes painful dermatitis due to its high acid content.

• The yield of this new variety would be 2.25 tons per hectare provided the prescribed plant spacing is followed while the existing variety JG 11 is yielding 1.75 to 2.5 tons per hectare.

• It would reduce the risk of the ripened crop’s exposure to untimely rain and other extreme weather conditions.

About ICRISAT

• The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations.

• Its charter was signed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

• It is an international organisation that conducts agricultural research for rural development and is headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana.

• Since its inception, India has granted a special status to ICRISAT as a UN Organisation operating in the Indian Territory making it eligible for special immunities and tax privileges.

• It is managed by a full-time Director General functioning under the overall guidance of an international Governing Board.

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