Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar: 6 February 2026:- For sowing the spring-season sugarcane crop, the months of February and March are highly suitable. For sowing, recommended varieties should be selected and disease-free seed should be chosen so that higher yields can be obtained and income can be increased.
While discussing this, Dr. Amrik Singh, Sugarcane Commissioner, Punjab, stated that to earn higher income from the sugarcane crop, it is necessary to adopt an intercropping system. He said that while sowing sugarcane, farmers should take care of five technical points, which include: timely sowing, adopting the wide-row (trench) method, treating the seed before sowing, using the upper one-third portion of the cane for seed, and cultivating pulses under the intercropping system.
He said that due to stagnation in pulse production, per capita pulse consumption has declined from 70 grams to 27 grams, which is far below the World Health Organization’s standard of 80 grams per person per day. He stated that at one time, the maah (urad) crop of the Riaraki region in Gurdaspur district was very famous, but due to the adoption of the wheat–paddy cropping cycle, this crop has disappeared. In this Riaraki region, there are 12–15 villages where the soil and climate were highly suitable and the cultivation of maah was very popular. After cooking, Riaraki maah would give off a reddish hue and was extremely tasty. Therefore, keeping in view the demand for maah dal, its area can be increased by adopting it as an intercropped crop in sugarcane fields.
He informed that in sugarcane crops sown during February–March, two rows of maah variety 1008 can be sown between two rows of sugarcane. He said that this variety bears abundant pods, matures uniformly, and ripens in approximately 72 days. This variety is less affected by yellow mosaic disease and leaf curl virus. Its average yield is 4.5 quintals per acre.
He further stated that with the arrival of sugarcane harvesting machines, the practice of sowing sugarcane using the wide-row method is continuously increasing. In this method, sugarcane is sown in furrows that are 4–5 feet apart and 20–25 centimeters deep. He said that for sowing maah as an intercrop in sugarcane, 5 kilograms of seed per acre is required, and sowing can be done by the end of February.
He said that by efficiently utilizing the vacant space between sugarcane rows, sowing two rows of summer-season maah can yield 2–3 quintals per acre. He stated that this practice fulfills the household requirement of maah dal for sugarcane farmers, provides additional income, improves soil fertility as maah is a leguminous crop, and does not have any adverse effect on sugarcane yield.
He said that the maah crop does not require excessive irrigation; therefore, irrigation of the sugarcane crop should be done very carefully. He added that for obtaining maah seed, farmers can contact the District Chief Agriculture Officer, regional research centers of PAU, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, or the PAU Ludhiana seed outlet.