Third in the three-part analysis of the current price spiral in pulses

Pulses production is not matching the growing demand and as per government?s own assessment they won?t do so atleast till 2011-2012. In a recent statement, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said the country?s pulses output is projected to grow by almost 6% in the next three years. But, demand during this period is expected to rise by around 9%.

In other words, the demand-supply mismatch which is causing prices to skyrocket will continue for some more time. At the global level too, the possibility of any substantial rise in production, in key exporting nations like Myanmar and Canada, is remote because farmers there are shifting more towards corn and oilseeds at the expense of pulses.

So what options are left to bridge this demand-supply gap which could push up annual import dependency from around 2.79 million tonne in 2007-08 to more than 4.0 million tonne by 2011-2012.

If experts are to be believed then there is very little we can do, atleast in the short-term, because given the nature of our agriculture and cultivation, pulses would continue to be subservient to other high remunerative crops like oilseeds, wheat and rice.

?In the next 2-3 years, it is very difficult to bring down the demand-supply mismatch, but in the long-run, say after 5-10 years, some planning like replicating the limited success in producing high-yielding varieties of arhar in other pulses could gradually bring down our import dependency and improve supplies,? said Ramesh Chand, national professor, National Centre For Agriculture Economics and Policy Research.

He also suggests giving some sort of subsidy for growing pulses, because it helps in improving soil nutrition. ?We can?t eliminate the demand-supply gap in pulses, but we can definitely reduce it,? Chand said. The gap which is estimated to be around 2 million tonne in 2007-08, is projected to swell to over 4 million tonne by 2011-2012.

Some experts also believe that improving research and development in pulses to develop more high yielding varieties and focusing more on bringing more pulses growing area under irrigation could be another way out.

Presently, just around 12-15% of total area under pulses of around 24 million tonne is under irrigation.

?We need massive investment in technology, a tariff structure which discourages cheap imports, involvement of corporate in pulses production and marketing and also some sort of protection to pulses growers because they help in improving soil nutrition,? said YK Alagh, former union agriculture minister. He said bringing more areas pulses grown area under irrigation should also be considered, but such irrigation should be limited, not the kinds used for wheat or rice.

The government in its part is implementing a centrally-sponsored scheme called the Integrated Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm and Maize in 14 major pulses growing states to boost output.