India is the largest pulse-consuming country as it has millions of vegetarians who rely on pulses as the main source of protein and other nutrients such as fiber and iron. However, India has been struggling to meet its domestic demand for years because of erratic weather, crop failures and low profitability that have made many farmers not to grow pulses due to their discouragement. This means that India needs to import pulses to satisfy its own need.
However, this is going to change soon with the government introducing a new program aimed at boosting production of pulses and reducing reliance on imports. The name of the scheme is Bharat Dal Utpadan Swavlamban Abhiyan or Indian Mission for Self-Sufficiency in Pulse Production which will increase two major pulse crops, tur or pigeon pea and masur or lentil through diverse incentives and farmer support.
The initiative will concentrate on nine states: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka having the greatest potential for growing pulses. These states produce about 70% of tur (pigeon peas) and masur (lentils) in India according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
To implement the program, the government has chosen the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Eederation called Nafed. Nafed will identify potential tur and masur growers and sign them up in advance to guarantee their whole produce purchase at MSP or market rate, whichever is higher. This measure is expected to protect farmers from income volatility associated with crop substitution as they are likely to get a good price for their pulses and hence better incomes out of it. It also provides inputs such as high yielding seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and credit to farmers to increase their production and reduce their costs. Moreover, Nafed will help farmers mitigate weather-related risks like crop failure by enrolling them into Fasal Bima Yojana.
The government believes that this scheme will help in achieving buffer stock norms of 1 million tonnes for tur and 0.5 million tonnes for masur. The buffer stocks enable the government to intervene in case of scarcity or sudden price surge of pulses so that both consumers and producers remain protected.
Additionally, this scheme will integrate the current schemes Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF). In these schemes, the government purchases pulses and vegetables at MSP or market price to create buffer stock and stabilize supply and demand. This comes when India has not been able to meet its pulses production due to unfavorable weather conditions.
According to Ministry of Agriculture, India harvested 3.3 million tonnes of tur and 1.5 million tonnes of masur during the last season. This was lower than the previous year’s figures of about 4.2 million tonnes and 1.3 million tonnes respectively. But, domestic requirement for tur is around 4.4 million tonnes, while for masur it stands at 2.4 million tonnes.
It is believed that this scheme will save environment because pulses improve soil health, conserve water, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions through fixing nitrogen on the ground. They can also be grown in climate-smart agriculture to adapt to diverse agro-ecological conditions such as droughts and floods because they fix nitrogen in soil.
The government hopes that the scheme will help bridge this gap, and make India self-reliant in pulses production, which is crucial for the food security and nutrition of the country.
| YEAR | PRODUCTION (LAKH TONNES) |
| 2019-20 | 230.25 |
| 2020-21 | 254.63 |
| 2021-22 | 273.02 |
| 2022-23* | 275.04 |
As per third advance estimates
(source-stastista)
