Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has promised to purchase tur, udid and masura produced by farmers. About why this time has come for the central government…
What exactly did the agriculture minister announce?
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivrajsinh Chauhan has assured that the central government is committed to purchase all tur, udi and lentil produced in the country at the minimum base price i.e. guaranteed price to bring self-sufficiency in the production of pulses and pulses and to diversify the cropping system. Farmers need to register for that. Chauhan assured that the e-prosperity website of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India Limited (NCCF) has been launched and the government is committed to purchase pulses from the farmers registered on this website.
Will the country be self-sufficient in pulse production?
The country is not yet self-sufficient in pulses production, however, the country aims to be self-sufficient by 2027. Efforts are on from 2015-16 to increase pulses production by 50 percent. However, the expected increase in production has not happened. The Agriculture Minister also agreed that more efforts are needed to increase the per hectare production and to encourage the farmers to produce pulses. The country has become somewhat self-sufficient in mung and gram production. The Agriculture Minister has also claimed that the country has succeeded in reducing the dependence on imports of gram and gram from 30 percent to 10 percent in the last ten years. Chauhan has said that the states should work in collaboration with the central government to make the country not only self-sufficient in foodgrain production, but also the world’s food basket.
What is Kaddhanya Village Scheme?
The Kaddhanya village scheme will be implemented across the country from the current Kharif season. The central government has appealed to all the state governments of the country to use the waste land available after harvesting rice for sowing pulses. Farmers should mainly take intercrop of turi. The state governments should encourage the farmers for this. To ensure that the farmers get good quality seeds, the central government has started 150 pulse seed centers across the country. Special efforts will be made under Kaddhanya Gaon Yojana to increase productivity in districts with low productivity of pulses. The scheme will be implemented mainly in major pulse producing states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, Telangana.
How much pulses and pulses does the country need in a year?
India is the world’s largest producer, consumer and importer of pulses. Madhya Pradesh is the largest producer of pulses in India. Madhya Pradesh accounts for 25 percent of the total production of pulses. Below that, pulses are produced in Maharashtra (14.48 percent), Rajasthan (13 percent), Uttar Pradesh (11 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (7.36 percent). In 2010-11, 182 lakh tonnes of pulses were produced in the country. In 2022-23, the production was 275.04 lakh tonnes. In 2023-24, pulses production is estimated to decline by 40 percent. The production of pulses has been increasing every year for the past few years. But, due to increasing demand, the pulses and pulses produced are insufficient. About 45 lakh tonnes of pulses and pulses have been imported this year. According to the estimates of the Central Government’s Department of Agriculture, the country’s one-year requirement of pulses and pulses has reached around 300 lakh tonnes, while the country’s production is around 270-280 lakh tonnes. In 2030-31, the country’s total demand for pulses is likely to rise to 352 lakh tonnes. At present, there is no possibility of increasing the production.
