Consumers of pulses, especially tur (arhar), mong and urad, are feeling the pinch because of significant rise in prices during the last two months. The situation may not improve much in the near future unless the government makes some drastic changes in the pulses policy.
According to a recent paper presented to the ministry of agriculture by the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP), the minimum support price fixed on the basis of cost production rather than demand and supply and liberal polices of ?zero duty on import? are obstructing production of pulses in the country.
NCAP?s paper titled ?Price and Market Intervention in Pulses? said the ban on export of pulses except kabuli chicpea despite the country?s competitiveness is posing an hindrance in increasing the production of pulses, considered as the vitamin supplement of poor people.
According to NCAP, the country imported close to 3 million tonne of pulses worth Rs 5649 crore during 2007-08 while the domestic production was 14.76 million tonne during same period.
The NCAP paper also identifies that growing pulses is less profitable compared with other crops and it has become a hurdle in increasing production.
?With the pulses being grown by 70% of small farmers and 18% of medium farmers, the government must provide support for seed multiplication and change MSP regime is in parity with the retail prices for augmenting yield,? PK Joshi, director, NCAP, told FE.
He said the outlook for tur in India is quite bleak, as against an annual demand of 5 million tonne the country produces only around 3 million tonne. ?We can not even substitute chana with tur,? Joshi, who prepared the paper, said.
Tur has huge demand in southern and eastern parts of the country while chana is taken mostly in northern India. The country mostly imports tur and urad from Mayanamar and Ghana and other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
An analysis of tur dal retail prices in Delhi sourced from the department of consumer affairs this year indicates that the prices have risen to Rs 95 per kg on Friday from Rs 50 reported on January 1, 2009, an increase of 90%. With kharif acreage under pulses going down in India, the situation has been aggravated by the lack of availability of pulses in the global market.
The NCAP paper also predicts a supply shortfall of around 2.26 million tonne by 2011-12, which would rise to 6.8 million tonne by 2020-21. The paper also anticipates increase in per capital consumption of pulses from 9 kg per year during 2004-5 to 10.9 kg by 2020-21.
A senior government official recently said the government has initiated administrative measures through states to curb speculative trade in pulses and sugar, prices of which have soared during the recent past.