Current epidemiological trends of the lathyrism and determinants of cropping pattern of Lathyrus sativus in Rewa division (M.P.), India - A time series study

• Author Details:   
• S.P. Singh
• Dhiraj Bhawnani
• V. Chauhan
• Ajit Parihar

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Introduction: Lathyrism, a crippling disease, has been reported in a number of countries. The agricultural record shows that the production of L.sativus has neither decreased nor appreciably increased and continue the same as it was 3 to 4 decades. While it not had been information on major outbreak of lathyrism in this period, however sporadic cases have been reported from time to time as per available previous data.In recent times, the problem has acquired new dimensions, which hold out possibilities of wider dissemination of the disease. It was probably true that the consumption of Lathyrus seeds had dropped during recent times, but this was probably because other crops like wheat, barley, lentils and Bengal gram had flourished. 
Material & Method: The current study was conducted during study period April 1980 to March 1982. In order to study the recent trends of lathyrism, the same area and technique have been adopted as were follow by Ganapathy & Dwivedi and Dwivedi and Prasad. Revisit to study the same area where detail epidemiological work was carried out and reported by Dwivedi & Prasad. They were the 18 village of Rewa and 10 village of Satna districts. The other part of study included the collection of information of occurrence of cases occurred during the last 10 years period. The area of survey restricted to Rewa division to determine those factor responsible for secular variations in the prevalence of disease from the previous I.C.M.R. study. This another part of the study was related to study the economic market forces and cropping pattern in relation to production, distribution and consumption of Khesari in these areas under study. Data was compiled in MS excel and checked for its completeness and correctness then it was analyzed.
Observations: There were 55 villages in the three districts from where 118 fresh cases were recorded. It is evident that disease is prevalent being 16% in Rewa, 66% in Satna and 33% in Sidhi districts. The yield and the market price trend in the last ten years in Madhya Pradesh nearly maintained the production of L. sativus nearly but there has been increasing trend in price structure of pulse from Rs.47/- to Rs. 300/- per quintal in the year 1964-65 to 1988-81. In the present study cases of lathyrism were not reported from any village from district Shahdol. The rainfall is quite adequate. Due to this the agriculturist did not care to develop artificial means of irrigation and as such are still depend upon annual rainfall. If there is weak correlation coefficient between prices and number of cases.
Recommendations: Health education has to be carried out through appropriate mass media to educate people about the menace of consumption of Khesari dal. It is also necessary that payment of Khesari dal in any form and proportion to the agricultural laborers should be banned henceforth. In area where Khesari is cultivated as an insurance crop to safe guard against drought development of irrigation facilities have to be taken on priority basis.

Keywords: Lathyrism, L. sativus, Khesari dal, Rewa