Green grams also known as mung beans or locally as “ndengu” are small green beans that belong to the legume family.
They are used to make delicious stews that go well with chapatti, rice and sometimes ugali. They can also be used to make soup.
In some countries, the seeds are value added by milling into the flour used to make porridge, bread, and noodles.
The crop residues are used as fodder or in making green manure highlights greenlife.co.ke
Unknown to many green grams is a good alternative source of protein.
Health benefits accredited to green grams include reducing heart diseases, cancer, and chronic inflammation risks, lowering cholesterol levels, reduce blood pressure, aid in digestion, lower blood sugars and promote weight loss.
Varieties grown in Kenya as listed by farmlinkkenya.com include KVR22 (KAT/MB22 or N22), KVR 26 (KAT/MB 26 or drought-resistant N26), fast maturing and drought-resistant K26 and KS20.
Climatic conditions favorable for green gram farming consist of the annual rainfall of at least 600mm annually, temperatures of 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.
It performs well at an altitude of 500 to1600 metres above sea level.
Green grams prefer well-drained fertile loam or sandy soils with a soil PH of 6.0 to 7.0
Planting
Green grams are grown from seeds.
They take about 60 to 90 days to grow to maturity depending on the variety.
Farmers prefer the crop as it matures early, has a low water demand and enjoys a ready market.
Before planting, land should be prepared to a fine tilth.
Planting should be done early on the onset of rains planting two seeds per hole at a recommended spacing of 45cm by 15 cm notes farmlinkkenya.com
The soil should be mixed with organic manure to boost soil fertility.
Germination occurs within five to seven days.
Green grams can be planted alone or intercropped with other crops like maize, sorghum, cowpeas
The first weeding should be done three weeks after the seedlings have grown followed by the second weeding six weeks later, after flowering.
Weeding helps keep off pests causing diseases, reduce the competition for nutrients, water, space, and sunlight.
Green grams are nitrogen-fixing plants which ensure the soils are always fertile.
Pests and diseases
Pests known to attack green grams that a farmer should be aware of include bean bruchid (bean weevil), flower thrips, bean aphids, bean fly, cutworms, sucking bugs and whiteflies.
They are controlled by early planting, spraying with suitable insecticides and pesticides, crop rotation and suing resistant varieties according to farmlinkkenya.com
Diseases that a farmer should be worried about are powdery mildew, damping- off, yellow mosaic, anthracnose, bacterial blight or bean blight and rust which are controlled by practicing crop rotation, use of healthy certified seeds, and applying suitable fungicides according to greenlife.co.ke.
Harvesting
Green grams are harvested when the pods turn black and are picked weekly.
The pods are sun-dried further for two to three days then threshed before consumption or storing in airtight containers such as drums, pots, and tins or gunny bags.
The moisture content at storage should not be above 13 percent to reduce their susceptibility to bruchid or bean weevils’ highlights mfarm.co.ke
To increase the shelf life a farmer can apply seed treatment.
