How India is building self-reliance in pulses
₹5,600 crore to procure 800,000 tonnes at the MSP of ₹7,000 crore per quintal and ₹2,400 crore for 400,000 tonnes of masur at ₹6,000 a quintal MSP. However, the procurement expenses may be over and above this, the official added.
According to agriculture ministry data, India produced 3.3 mt of tur and 1.5 mt of masur in the last season ended June, against the previous year’s 4.2 mt and 1.3 mt, respectively. However, domestic demand for tur and masur stand at 4.4 mt and 2.4 mt, respectively.
The next year may be worse: In the first advance estimate for the 2023-24 crop year, the production of total kharif pulses is pegged lower at 7.1 mt compared with the previous year’s 7.8 mt due to unfavourable climatic conditions and farmers switching to crops such as cotton and soybean, which are more remunerative and have shorter gestation periods. Falling output and rising imports of pulses poses a threat to food security and threaten farmers’ livelihoods in the backdrop of climate change, said Devan Chandrasekharan, managing director of Fuselage Innovations, an agritech company.
“Addressing climate change entirely may be an insurmountable task, but implementing targeted interventions can pave the way for solutions. While traditional soil-based farming methods have been effective, incorporating technology-backed agricultural practices such as soil and leaf-based crop monitoring, along with targeted crop protection, can provide solutions to mitigate the impact of post-natural calamities," Chandrasekharan added.
India imported 2.26 mt of lentils, tur and urad during January-October against the previous year’s 1.4 mt. While lentil imports were the highest among all pulses at 1.1 mt, imports of tur and urad were at 686,073 tonnes and
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