On-farm research addressing lentil farmers’ constraints in West Asia

Abstract

Despite the importance of lentil as a protein source, the crop has received minimal research emphasis. However, recent studies in West Asian countries have identified improved production technologies for lentil. This technology may differ from country to country, but the main problems and constraints facing farmers in growing lentil are similar in West Asia.Research on farmers’ fields has focused on overcoming these constraints. The areas of major importance are: — Evaluating newly improved lentil cultivars that possess traits suitable for mechanical harvesting; — Demonstrating in farmers’ fields the optimum cultural practices that should be used for lentil production, such as proper seedbed preparation, time of sowing, weed control, fertilization, Rhizobium inoculation and mechanical seeding, and; — Introducing several mechanical harvesting methods that farmers can chose from. Several of these improved practices are now being used by farmers and have resulted in substantial increases in yields and profits. However, other technical constraints and problems, such as weed control, Rhizobium inoculation, efficient harvesting methods, Sitona and Bruchus control, and residue management still require additional research. Land fragmentation and availability of inputs are two other important constraints that need to be addressed.KeywordsWeed ControlLand PreparationRhizobium InoculationImprove CultivarLentil SeedThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.