Only government intervention can help increase pulses production to meet the growing demand which is expected to reach 40 million tonnes (mt) by 2030 as profitability of these crops is lower than competing crops, experts said.

Ashok Gulati, a former chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has said if there is no change in the policy, pulses import may increase to 8-10 mt by 2030 the way demand has been growing.

He suggested a five-year crop diversification incentive by the Centre in States such as Punjab and Haryana and said the yield of pulses is likely to be more in these States.

“Punjab has recently announced ₹7,000/acre incentive if farmers shift from paddy. It is time the Centre also contributes an equal amount as incentive if farmers grow pulses or oilseeds in Punjab and Haryana. Besides, there should be 100 per cent procurement,” Gulati said.

He expressed hope that if paddy farmers get around ₹35,000/hectare for crop diversification, there will not be any demand for legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). This will also save the ground water table, he said.

Will raise profitability

The area under paddy in Punjab has increased from less than 5 per cent of gross cropped area in early 1960s to over 40 per cent in 2021-22 while area under pulses and oilseeds has declined from about 23 per cent to 1.5 per cent during this period.

Pitching for pulses to be grown on more irrigated area, Vijay Paul Sharma, chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), said t it may help raise profitability of these crops.

“Today if you take any pulse crop, its profitability (net returns over costs) is much less compared to competitive crops and it is 50 per cent lower in some cases,” Sharma said addressing a conclave on pulses, organised by India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) in New Delhi.

He cited the example of gram (chana) and lentil (masur) and said that their profitability is half of what farmers get from wheat or mustard.

He suggested remunerative and stable price has to be maintained to motivate farmers, in which the trade has a major role to play. For instance, after MSP was increased significantly in lentil, farmers had also equally responded and raised the production. But the prices crashed as imports were also allowed, Sharma said.

Imports to fall

Addressing media, IPGA chairman Bimal Kothari said that the demand for pulses is likely to reach 40 mt by 2030 with the increase in population. He also said import of pulses is likely to drop to 4-4.5 mt this fiscal from 4.74 mt in 2023-24 due to lower import of lentil and yellow peas.

Kothari said the country imported 1.6 mt of lentil in last fiscal whereas the requirement was for only 1 mt. He also said imports of yellow peas may also fall from 2023-24 level.

“This year monsoon rains have been better. Pulses acreage has gone up in Kharif season. The domestic production is expected to rise,” Kothari said.

India’s pulses production dropped to 24.49 mt in 2023-24 as against 26.06 mt in 2022-23 and 27.3 mt in 2021-22, agriculture ministry data showed. Pulses acreage in current kharif season was recorded at 11.06 million hectares (mh) as on August 2, which was 11 per cent higher than 9.97 mh year-ago.

IPGA has also sought a long-term policy for the Rs 2.5 lakh crore pulses trade saying frequent changes in policies hurt the interest of all stakeholders. Kothari demanded imposition of import duties on yellow peas. In the current fiscal, India has imported 1.13 mt of pulses during the April-May period.

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