Tight finances, an extraordinary run of dry weather and a desire to reduce input costs are expected to drive up pulse acres in Australia, says the industry’s national association.
Pulse Australia is forecasting 3.36 million acres of chickpeas, beans, peas, lentils and lupins, up 10 percent from 2008.
Rainfall across the southern half of Australia was low to non-existent for the first three months of the year.
“As a result, subsoil moisture levels are very dry throughout Victoria, South Australia and southern New South Wales,” the agency said in its 2009 crop forecast.
Those three states grow most of the country’s chickpeas, peas and lentils. Conditions in all three states improved in late April because of extensive rainfall that delivered 15 to 40 millimetres of much-needed moisture. It was the first substantial rainfall in 2009.
Western Australia has been dry all summer and experienced record average temperatures in April.
The state is the country’s main lupin producer. A good rainfall in May will be essential for the crop to develop.
