Lentil Production

About Lentil

• It is a valuable human food, mostly consumed as dry seeds.
• In India, it’s mostly consumed as ‘Dal’ by removal of outer skin and separation of cotyledons.
• Lentil is also called Masur and Malka (bold seeded).
• Climatic condition
  • Lentil requires a cold climate.
  • It is very hardy and can tolerate frost and severe winter to a great extent.
  • It requires cold temperature during its vegetative growth and warm temperature at the time of maturity.
  • Temperature: The optimum temperature for growth is 18-300 C. Its range of cultivation extends to an altitude of 3,500 m in north-west hills.
  • Soil: Well drained, loam soils with neutral reaction are best for lentil cultivation. Acidic soils are not fit for growing lentil. 
• It is widely cultivated throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa.
• The Lentil growing states in India are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, etc
• It is easy to cook and easily digestible with high biological value. Dry leaves, stems, empty and broken pods are used as valuable cattle feed.
• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world's top lentil growers in 2022 were Canada, India, Australia, Turkey and Russia.
• Despite being the second largest producer of lentil, India has so far been importing mainly from Australia, Canada, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey.
• During the current year, it also imported some quantities of lentil from UAE, USA, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Q1) What is the Food and Agriculture Organization?

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.

Source: India’s lentil production set to touch all-time high: Govt