Documentation of Indigenous Storage Practices of Pulse Seed

Abstract

Storage of pulse seed is a crucial postharvest operation. But storage practices vary over local natural resources, climate and culture of the society. This study assessed indigenous storage system of pulse seeds in six selected pulse growing districts in Bangladesh. Data were collected from 180 sample farmers through survey method and multistage stratified random sampling technique was followed to select these farmers. It was observed that farmers mostly cultivated mungbean, grass pea, lentil, chickpea, blackgram and pea of which mungbean, lentil and grasspea covered 84% of the total pulse crop cultivation. Sun drying was found to be the most commonly practiced traditional seed drying system, accounting for 100% of the respondents. A number of storage materials were used in the survey areas of which plastic drum was found to be the mostly adopted storage materials. Survey farmers were found to treat seed before storing it for future use. Overall, 42% of the total surveyed farmers used neem leaves as treating materials while 24% did not apply any treatment. These indigenous methods are useful for sustenance and compose a prominent role in the development of agriculture. It would be wise to keep an eye and encourage indigenous practices extensively for self-sustenance with a goal to diminish paucity and starvation among native folks and enhance use of locally available cheaper sources where it is adoptable, cost effective and prolong storage life of seed.