Production of pulses and oilseeds in the country could suffer due to delayed monsoon, said Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, on Friday.

Usually sowing of pulses starts by June in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana region. But due to weak monsoon, it was delayed in these areas, said Mr Pawar in his interaction with the media at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education.

Given this situation, the ministry is talking to the State Governments of Punjab and Haryana to explore whether these crops could be grown there in the kharif season.

Mr Pawar said the country has been importing edible oils and pulses for many years. Last year, the import bill of these commodities was about Rs 40,000 crore. Due to the market demand, the country will have to continue importing them.

The Agriculture Ministry is working to get additional farm area under pulses. In this regard, a meeting with officials from the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) would be soon held in New Delhi, Mr Pawar said.

He also pointed out that in spite of inadequate monsoon rains in June, he was not worried about the production of paddy as Punjab and Haryana, where agriculture is not rainfall dependent, could have normal crop.

“They (Punjab and Haryana) have enough canal water. Therefore, they will be able to produce the crop. The government is also getting positive reports regarding paddy cultivation from States like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal,” he said. The comfortable food grain stocks after two successive years of bumper production will help cushion the impact of any shortfall in food production this year, he said.

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