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The government on Wednesday said it has released Rs 110 crore to various states in the first two months of the current fiscal in order to boost pulses production in rain-fed areas of 60,000 villages.
A total of Rs 300 crore has been earmarked for this purpose under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), it said in an official statement.
Out of Rs 110 crore funds, Rs 25.48 crore has been released to Maharashtra, Rs 21.61 crore to Rajasthan, Rs 19.18 crore to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 15.43 crore to Karnataka and rest to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and other states during April-May of the 2011-12 fiscal.
Sowing of summer-sown pulses has begun in the most parts of the country. So far, farmers have planted pulses in 2.86 lakh hectare.
To encourage farmers take up pulses cultivation, the government recently increased the minimum support price (MSP) of pulses by up to Rs 400 for the year 2011-12.
The MSP of moong (green gram) has been fixed at Rs 3,500/quintal, urad at Rs 3,300/quintal and arhar at Rs 3,200/quintal for this year.
The government had started a programme to promote pulses output in 60,000 villages last fiscal with Rs 300 crore funds in order to reduce the country’s dependency on imports.
The programme, which was implemented in dryland areas last year, received good response from farmers. As a result, the country is set to harvest a record production of 17.29 million tonnes of pulses from 2010-11 crop year.
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