Assurance of 100% purchase of Tuvar, Urad and Masur
12-Jul-2024 04:09 PM
New Delhi. The Union Agriculture Minister has said that the government is committed to buy 100% marketable stock of Tuvar, Urad and Masur from the farmers, which is imported in large quantities from abroad in India.
Its complete purchase will be done in the provinces where these pulses are produced. While reviewing the progress made in sowing of Kharif crops, the Agriculture Minister said that there has been an increase of more than 50 percent in the production area of pulses and especially the area of Tuvar and Urad has increased rapidly.
According to the Agriculture Minister, achieving self-sufficiency in pulse production is among the priorities of the country.
At present, government agencies are not getting any special success in the purchase of these three pulses because its wholesale market price is running higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP). The demand and consumption of pulses in the domestic sector is increasing rapidly, whereas the production is not increasing accordingly.
Last year, due to less monsoon rain and its uneven distribution, the production of pulses crops had decreased. Due to this, the domestic market and imports from abroad increased significantly. With the aim of increasing supply and availability in the domestic sector and controlling the rise in prices, the government has gradually made the import of five major pulses, tur (tuvar),
urad, masoor, desi gram and peas duty free and decontrolled. According to rough estimates, the average annual domestic consumption of pulses has reached close to 300 lakh tonnes, of which 15 percent is met through imports from abroad.
During the current Kharif season, due to good rains of the southwest monsoon in major producing states like Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the production area of pulse crops has increased to 36.80 lakh hectares till July 5, which is 13.10 lakh hectares or 55 percent more than the sowing area of 23.70 lakh hectares in the same period last year.
The production area of Tuvar has increased five times to 20.80 lakh hectares and the sowing area of Urad has increased by 46 percent to 5.37 lakh hectares. Sowing of pulses is still going on.