Plan to purchase 100% pulses at MSP

27-Jun-2024 01:17 PM

New Delhi. To encourage Indian farmers to produce maximum amount of pulses during Kharif and Rabi seasons,

the Central Government is now planning to increase the scope of its purchase to 100%. According to the current rules, a maximum of 25% of the total quantity of pulses produced in a state can be purchased by government agencies at MSP,

while the remaining 75% pulses have to be sold by farmers in the open market where its price is sometimes higher and sometimes lower than the government support price. Now the government is preparing to buy 100% pulses from farmers so that the buffer stock can be increased.

In the domestic sector, the price of Arhar (Tuvar), Urad, Masoor, Moong and Gram is running at a very high level, due to which the difficulties of the common people have increased a lot.

This time due to the high prices in the Rabi season, the government could not get the opportunity to purchase enough gram and lentils. According to rough estimates,

India's contribution to the total global production of pulses is 25 percent, while India's share in its consumption has reached 27 percent. Thus,

due to low domestic production compared to demand and consumption, India is forced to import large quantities of pulses from abroad every year.

Interestingly, India remains the largest producer of pulses in the world as well as the most prominent consumer and importer country.

The total annual consumption of pulses in India has increased to above 270-280 lakh tonnes, but production is expected to decline to 234 lakh tonnes in the 2023-24 season.

As a result, during the last financial year (2023-24), the import of pulses increased to above 45 lakh tonnes. The production of gram and moong is more than domestic consumption.

In view of this, the government had banned the import of moong in the year 2022 and imposed a hefty customs duty of 66 percent on the import of Desi gram. Now this import duty has been postponed till 31 October 2024.