PEAS

Green peas are a seed. They are eaten after they've been removed from the pod. Snow peas have a tender pod so that both the pod and young seeds are eaten. Peas grow on vines which vary in length from 30cm to 3m.

Major Trading Centres

Mumbai, Jalgaon, Latur, Akola in Maharashtra
Indore, Bhopal, Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh

Market Influencing Factors

The sentiments of traders play a significant role currently, as a consequence of the lack of free-flow of information.
Stocks present with stockists and the stocks-to-consumption ratio.
The price of other major pulses like chana, tur, urad, green peas etc also influence the prices of yellow peas.

Major exporting countries

Canada
Australia
France
Myanmar

Import ratio in India

In 2002-03, peas accounted for 39% of India's total pulse imports. India imports peas in dried and shelled form and also in frozen form as a vegetable.

Dry peas

Dry peas are dried naturally by the late summer sun. They are most commonly split, which speeds cooking time. How are they split? During processing, peas are sorted. Then they are bombarded against a baffler, which causes them to split in two. Americans are most familiar with green peas, but yellow peas are also grown on the Palouse. They are most commonly consumed in Scandinavia and taste slightly different than green peas.

HOW ARE PEAS PRODUCED ?

Peas are planted in fields. The fields are ploughed, harrowed, and culti-packed to ensure a smooth and even seed bed. Seeds are planted in the spring with a grain drill. Peas for freezing and canning are harvested by machines which cut the plants and shell and clean the peas. Tenderometers, machines which measure the tenderness of the pea, help to ensure that peas are harvested at the peak of quality. Peas are planted on a schedule to mature starting about the first of July. Harvest usually wraps up by the end of August.

WHAT CHALLENGES DOES THE PEA PRODUCER FACE?

Because sugars in peas are so rapidly converted to starch, special procedures are used to ensure rapid delivery to processing plants. Processors manage the harvesting and packing operation. Because peas have to be picked within a day or sometimes less of reaching maturity, scheduling is very important. Processor fieldmen manage the planting operation using a combination of planting dates and varieties of different maturity to ensure that peas mature in sequence and that too much does not mature at once.

Diseases such as pea wilt can be a problem, but breeders have developed resistant varieties which have effectively kept it at bay. Other diseases such as root rots are controlled by following a careful crop rotation to prevent buildup of the fungi which cause the problem.

Interesting Fact About Peas

Peas are a legume. Like most legumes, peas have special nodules on their roots which enable them to take nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil. Thus, peas actually enrich the soil they grow in.