Let’s go back to dal-roti

When the prices of pulses went up to around ₹100 a kilo there was concern at the highest levels of government. Imports were announced, whereas the focus should have been on a strategy for self-sufficiency in pulses production. Why subsidise rich Canadian and Australian farmers?

An import price-linked subsidy to farmers would have spurred output. Since in India pulses are largely still a dryland crop, very poor farmers would have benefited.

Some policy economists wrongly suggest that all price adjustments should be domestic, thereby ignoring trade aspects. This is wrong.

An expert group I chaired a few years ago on pulses production developed an interesting experimental model of private public participation in pulses where technologies are taken to the farmer and output is purchased at fair price with money directly credited to the farmers’ bank accounts. When I was on the board of one of India’s big companies, I supported a model of production and trade in pulses. It was a roaring success. Such models need upscaling.

The yield of pulses has remained low, as also area and total production. The number of districts harvesting more than 0.8-1 tonne/hectare yield of kharif pulses is small. The gap between demand and supply has been widening and has necessitated the import of about 3 million tonnes of pulses.

The Kanpur-based Indian Institute of Pulses Research estimates demand of 25.39 million tonnes by 2024-25. Behavioural estimates using elasticities of demand and per capita income growth in real terms give higher estimates, but even the lower figures necessitate a doubling of output from present levels.

Some econometric estimates of the demand elasticities of pulses range from 1.5 to 2.0. This would mean that with an increase of around 6.5 per cent annual per capita income, demand for pulses would increase by around 10 per cent annually.

The strategy worked out begins with identifying additional area that has potential for pulse crops. Three to four million hectares in rice fallow lands were identified in largely in eastern India, with the potential to yield around 2.5 million tonnes. About 5 lakh ha area of upland rice, 4.5 lakh ha area of millets and 3 lakh ha area under barley, mustard and wheat, currently giving low yields, could be brought under kharif/rabi pulses.

About 16.5 lakh ha area vacated by wheat, peas, potato, sugarcane, lentils can be used for raising 60-65 day summer moong bean crop in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Gujarat, and West Bengal.

With some difficulty the expert group was able to isolate around 9 million ha where watershed development in recent years gives scope for pushing pulses development. Similarly, pigeon pea on rice bunds and intercropping in specific agro climatic regimes were identified. If the available technologies are given policy support as outlined, pulses productivity could rise by around a quarter, but without a long-term plan there is no question of achieving the targets even by the end of the decade.

To develop the next generation germplasm we need at least five to seven years. Long-term planning and action are costly. Machines using super computing and DNA technology can shorten the time period for seeds which produce more than three t/ha.

But the research establishment has not given a detailed road map; and the bare outlines it developed would need to be fleshed out, detailed, costed, and milestones laid down and implemented in six months.

The expert group felt that a preliminary listing was useful, if not for any other reason than just to outline the seriousness of the task. This listing is available to any concerned policymaker.

The writer is the chancellor of Central University of Gujarat, and a former Union minister

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