The Hindu Business Line : Why is the nation's "pulse" weak?

The availability of pulses has fallen to half the level of the 1960s, though pulses remain the primary protein source for a large section of the Indian population that is vegetarian.

Pulses are a quintessential part of Indian cuisine. But Indian eating habits are increasingly going the Western way, and the young upwardly mobile Indian middle-class indulges itself in hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas and pasta.

Despite the tributes paid to Indian agriculture, this cultural transgression is also leading to the eclipse of a component of India's traditional food basket — pulses. It is a contradiction: India is not only the biggest producer and consumer of pulses in the world, but also the biggest importer. After 60 years of planned agricultural development, the country is nowhere close to attaining self-sufficiency in pulses production. And it continues to pay a heavy price as pulses imports burn a hole in our import bill.

Production, consumption

India's pulses production topped 13.1 million tonnes in 2005-06. But the production has shown wild fluctuations and stagnated at that level for over a decade. In fact, production 15 years ago was 14.3 million tonnes. Efforts to attain a production of 15 million tonnes have proved unsuccessful.

While production has stagnated at around 13 million tonnes, consumption has been hovering around 17 million tonnes ayear. The per capita availability of pulses has dropped from 22.5 kg per annum in 1965-66 to 10.6 kg in 2003-04.

While India dithers on the pulses front, for exporting countries it is a goldmine. As the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture said: "There is every indication that India's huge market for pulses will continue to grow. Not only is India's population increasing by 18 million every year but production of pulses has languished as government research and price supports have favoured cereal grains over other foodstuffs. As a result, per capita availability of pulses has fallen to just 38 grams per day, one-half of the levels of the 1960s." The fall in availability comes even as pulses remain the primary protein source for a large section of the population that is vegetarian.

Constraints

A variety of factors has hampered the extension of area under, and productivity of, pulses. Agro-climatic conditions and vulnerability to moisture stress have been the key problem areas. Unlike rice and wheat, low productivity has led to low production and returns, retarding extension of area. Support prices are often below open market prices and have not encouraged farmers.

The US-based International Plant Nutrition Institute concludes that poor support measures and low profitability have led to a general decline in the pulses crop area in India. But these problems are not insurmountable. Unlike major cereals, pulses research has not thrown up the periodic `increased productivity strains.' And rather than laying the blame on the scientific community, responsibility has to be borne by the government.

No doubt, the Government had transformed the country from being a food-deficient to a food self-reliant nation. Yet, that cannot take away from its neglect of pulses production. Indeed, productivity of pulses has remained virtually stagnant for the last 45 years between 539 kg per hectare in 1961 to 585 kg in 2005-06, againreflecting the paucity of new high-yielding strains.

There has been a high degree of unpredictability in pulses production with wild swings in output. Moisture stress is the oft cited reason. This could have been tackled on two fronts — generation of strains less vulnerable to moisture stress, and bringing more pulses area under irrigation. Irrigated area under pulses has virtually remained stagnant — 13.6 per cent of the total area in 2003-04. This compares poorly against major food crops such as rice (52.6 per cent) and wheat (88.4 per cent).

Missed Opportunity

With the right government incentives and scientific support, the crisis on the pulses front could have been addressed. Pulses, whose production is a sore point of Indian agriculture, could have been transformed into a basket of opportunities — a trigger to sustaining farm sector growth. Indeed, other nations seem to have woken up to this opportunity. Canada has brought large areas under pulses and its exports to India soared from 73,000 tonnes in 1996 to 2,20,000 tonnes in 2006. Strengthening its position in the global market, Canada recently set up a Pulses Crop Research Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan.

India accounts for 25 per cent of the total global production of pulses, 27 per cent of consumption and 34 per cent of global use of pulses in food. The country also accounts for one of the highest impoverished agrarian populations in the world — mostly in its arid rain-fed areas.

The right trigger can revive pulses production and productivity in India's heartland, reduce rural poverty and sustain the growth momentum in agriculture. The weakness can be converted into an opportunity as the country transforms itself from the biggest pulses producing-importing country to a key pulses producing-exporting nation.