According to an assessment made by the National Crop Forecasting Centre (NCFC) under the ministry of agriculture, the year 1998-99 is likely to maintain reasonably satisfactory supply scenario as acreage under cultivation is estimated to have gone up by 60,000 hectare to 229.1 lakh hectare over the previous year.

The highest production of pulses in the country so far was 143 lakh tonne in 1991-92, an official release said here.

NCFC has attributed the good prospects of pulses this year to favourable climatic conditions that prevailed over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan which account for nearly 50 per cent of country's pulses production.

Punjab, Haryana, Orissa and West Bengal contribute about six per cent of the total production, the release said.

The main contributory factor for the excellent prospects of pulses production is the significantincrease in acreage of rabi pulses which is likely to be 127 lakh hectare as against 123 lakh hectare last year.Rabi production according to the NCFC estimate is expected to rise to 95 lakh tonne compared to 87 lakh tonne last year.

Though tur, a long duration crop overlapping kharif and rabi seasons, had suffered on account of unfavourable weather in 1997-98, the prospects for current year appeared bright following good weather this year in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

NCFC has estimated gram production to be a record for second successive year at about seven per cent more than last year's 63.1 lakh.

Government has accorded high priority for accelerating pulses production through implementation of National Pulses Development Project (NPDP).Under NPDP, farmers are exposed to multi-disciplinary approach of production and processing technology along with input support and assistance on production of beeder seeds, foundation seeds and certified seeds.Government was also planning to strengthenNPDP by adding contractual research component to it and by popularising pulses cultivation in non-traditional areas and seasons.

Government has already banned export of pulses till 31 March 1999 in a bid rein in the soaring prices as a result of high vegetable prices registered during May to October '98.

Though India is the largest producer of pulses in the world it has been a net importer till now. Last year the country imported over two million tonne of pulses to bridge the demand-supply gap in the domestic market.