Jitabhai KodarbhaiPatel (64) is a farmer owning six acres of land where he grows Indian bean, castor, cotton, soybean and wheat as major crops and lucerneas fodder crop. 

Jitabhaihas developed early maturing and high yielding improved variety of Dolichos lablab (synonym:Lablab purpureus) commonly known as Hyacinth bean and Val (in Gujarati) from a local variety through selection method. In 1987 hefound some good quality bunched pods of Hyacinth bean mixed in the fodder which he was collecting from neighbouring village.  He separated those pods and kept for sowing in the next year. He sowedfew seeds in his field the following year and noticed that some of the plants were bearing more number of bunched pods which matured earlier than others. He selected those desirable plants and harvested the seeds separately for next year. He continued the selection process for desired characters continuously for eight years and in 1995, the variety was stabilized. Thereafter the seeds of the variety were distributed to the farmers of his neighbouring areas for trials and it became very popular due to its high yield and delectable taste.

The distinct characteristics of JK-1 variety are early maturing variety requiring 60 to 65 days for first picking, longer fruiting period ranging from August to April, lengthy, pale green lustrous bunched pods,over 700 pods per plant, high green pod yield (675 q/ha) and high seed yield (64 q/ha). JK-1 is the most preferable bean variety for making Undhiyu (Gujarati mixed vegetable dish)

During the validation of the variety by SardarkrushinagarDantiwada Agricultural UniversityDantiwada, Gujarat at two locations during 2015 to 2017, the variety JK-1 was found to be119.7% superior in terms of green pods yield over checks. The variety is being widely cultivated by the farmers of Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Panchmahal, Dahod and Banaskantha districts of Gujarat. NIF has also conducted on-farm trials at farmers’ field in Maharashtra (Pune &Palghar) and Rajasthan (Jaipur and Sikar) with overwhelming response from the growers for its higher market acceptability and taste.The application for registration of the variety has already been filed at PPV&FRA, New Delhi.