Even as suppliers across continents have come to rely on India importing increasing quantities of pulses each year, the world's topmost producer, consumer and importer has surprised them this year with a significant increase in domestic output (to a record 17.3 million tonnes in 2010-11 from 14.7 million tonnes in 2009-10) which, in turn, has resulted in a decline in imports to an estimated 2.7 million tonnes that fiscal from the record import of 3.6 million tonnes the previous year. Although their prices are still slightly elevated, pulses have become a lot more affordable in recent months than they were at this time last year. Importantly, this shows that India's pulses production is capable of springing surprises with notable expansion. With the planting season in full swing in the northern hemisphere, the big question confronting major exporting countries is whether India will repeat its record performance in 2011-12.
In addition to ensuring availability of various inputs, one of the ways to motivate growers to sustain this momentum is to improve marketability. This can be achieved partly through government procurement — similar to wheat and rice — for eventual sale to consumers through the public distribution system. Procurement of even a million tonnes of pulses at the minimum support price would provide a tremendous boost to growers and may help sustain the current level of production, if not boost it. There will be other benefits too. Farmers in grain mono-cropping regions (Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh) may start to practise crop rotation, with pulses helping fix nitrogen in soil and reverse deteriorating soil health. Importantly, pulses in PDS will allow the nutritionally-challenged to access this vegetable protein. Pulses ought to become an integral part of supplies under the Right to Food Act.
A year from now, the country's Twelfth Five-Year Plan will take off. A new thrust is necessary for promoting pulses and oilseeds — two commodities for which the country is dependent on large-scale imports. Clearly, we cannot afford the same lackadaisical approach seen in the Eleventh Plan, during which annual growth targets were seldom achieved. Encouraging cultivation of pulses through policy support is the way forward. More investment in R&D is required as the lack of a genetic breakthrough in seed technology for long years is keeping yields low — around 600 kg per hectare versus 1,800 kg/ha in Canada, for instance. In his last Budget speech, the Finance Minister exhorted the nation to attain self-sufficiency in pulses within the next three years. To sceptics, this may seem a tall order; but even an increase of 100 kg a hectare will mean an additional 2.6 million tonnes harvested from 26 million hectares, the current planted area. This is eminently doable; but needs determination on the part of farm scientists, growers and policymakers alike.