In a bid to curb rising retail prices of pulses, government agencies such as Food Corporation of India (FCI), Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) and farmers’ cooperative Nafed would procure one lakh tonne of pulses from the farmers from November 1.
The procured pulses, mostly tur or arhar, urad and chana, would be used as buffer stocks and they would be released in the market once the retail prices start to rise.
Sources said while FCI would be purchasing 50,000 tonne of pulses from the farmers, NAFED and SFAC would be procuring 40,000 tonne and 10,000 tonne respectively. A note for Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) would be soon moved for creating buffer stocks for the pulses.
While the NAFED would be provided more than Rs 300 crore from the Price Stabilisation Fund, the finance ministry would make provision for the procurement of pulses by FCI and SFAC. At present, FCI, the government’s grain procurement arm, purchases only rice and wheat from the farmers. When pulses prices drop below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), the agricultural ministry occasionally intervenes in a limited scale by ordering purchases by Nafed and SFAC.
“We can commence pulses procurement provided the finance ministry makes a special provision beyond its allocation under the food subsidy budget,” an FCI official said.
The official said that due to outstandings in excess of Rs 50,000 crore to FCI by the finance ministry on account of food subsidy, the corporation does not want to get into pulses procurement without any financial commitment from the government.
Earlier this year, an High- Level Committee (HLC) had suggested revisiting the MSP policy.
“There is no point in announcing MSPs for 23 commodities if it cannot create an effective support system for even paddy and wheat. Pulses and oilseeds (edible oils) deserve priority,” the HLC had stated in its report.
The move to create pulses buffer stocks comes at a time when the retail prices of arhar in Delhi were still ruling high at Rs 200 per kg on Monday, while urad is selling at Rs 190 per kg.
The prices of moong dal is now around Rs 130 per kg, masoor dal and gram are Rs 110 per kg and Rs 85 per kg respectively in the national capital.
According to official data, the country had imported 4.5 million tonne of pulses for meeting domestic shortfall last fiscal and in the current year the imports are expected to be around 4.1 mt. Besides private imports, the government ageny MMTC imported 5,000 tonne of Tur dal for augment domestic supplies.
The country’s pulses production is estimated to have fallen to 17.38 mt in 2014-15 from 19.25 mt in the previous crop year, due to a deficient monsoon last year. The annual domestic consumption of pulses is around 22 to 23 mt.
An agriculture ministry official said that in the forthcoming kharif harvest, pulses production is expected to rise sharply.