Pulses need more fillip

India's successes in space technology, prowess in information technology and research capability in biotechnology are all known and documented. India is known to have the world's largest pool of scientists.

Yet, agriculture is one area in which the country has remained relatively backward in comparison with several industrially advanced countries or even other emerging economies.

India has all it takes to achieve remarkable advances in agriculture. How many countries are endowed with 270 days of sunshine, 900 millimetres of annual rainfall, varied agro-climatic conditions with hundreds of rivers crisscrossing the country, about 150 million hectares of cultivable land, excellent biodiversity and about 130 million farm families at work.

No doubt, there have been successes in recent years. The country is the world's second largest producer and exporter of cotton. Maize/corn production this year has crossed 20 million tonnes.

Low growth rate

Despite these achievements, the overall agricultural situation is far from satisfactory. The annual average growth rate of the sector over the last 10 years is a paltry 2.5 per cent. Demand for agricultural commodities, especially food products, has been rising in the wake of robust GDP growth and population pressure. However, output growth has lagged, resulting in shortages and increasing dependence on the world market for imports.

Oilseeds and pulses are two commercial crops whose internal demand far exceeds domestic output. With large imports, the domestic market becomes subject to global influences.

2010-11 has become a watershed year for pulses which provide the cheapest vegetable protein. Acreage has expanded to a record high of about 26 million hectares and the output is an unprecedented 17.3 million tonnes, from the previous year's 14.7 m.t.

The biggest suspense now is whether in 2011-12, the terminal year of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, pulses will retain the same acreage and crop size. Theoretically it is possible; but in practice one needs to wait and watch.

The suspense over pulses production should be broken and there has to be reasonable assurance of quantum of output.

Currently, the yield is woefully low, at 600-620 kg a hectare. This is less than half the world average and a third of the yield Canada obtains.

Admittedly, in India, pulses are grown under challenging conditions. It is largely rain-fed cultivation on marginal lands and with susceptibility to pest and disease attacks. There has been no genetic breakthrough in seed technology.

In the face of these challenges, it would be foolhardy to believe that yields can double or cross 1,000 kg/ha in the near future, without an integrated approach to finding end-to-end solutions.

Target for pulses

The first target for pulses should be to raise the yield from the present around 600 kg/ha to 700 kg/ha, an increase of a mere 100 kg/ha. An average harvest of 700 kg/ha on an area of, say, 25 ml ha would produce 17.5 m.t. In other words, an average increase of even 100 kg/ha would produce an additional 2.5 m.t. This will reduce import dependence substantially and push global prices down to levels that are friendlier to consumers than now.

Procurement for PDS

Pulses growers do not enjoy the ready marketability that rice and wheat growers do, because of the procurement policy. If the Centre can procure and supply rice, wheat and sugar through the public distribution system, why not pulses? For human health and welfare, pulses surely are more essential than sugar.

So, what should be done to raise pulses yields to 700 kg ha from the present level? The minimum support price alone is incapable of delivering productivity gains. Policymakers have to think of non-price and non-trade initiatives to boost growers' confidence; and procurement is one sure way to send out a message loud and clear.

Those in Krishi Bhawan have to address themselves to the issue of raising pulses yields. Yield increases of a mere 100 kg/ha does not need rocket science. It is eminently doable; but requires growth-oriented policies and committed implementation. It is time for policymakers to create a favourable policy environment, for farm scientists to build capacity among growers to benefit from supportive policies, and for the peasants to perform.

India has all these years exercised the easy option of resorting to imports to meet domestic shortfall.

Import dependence on pulses can surely be reduced substantially if we act with due urgency and responsibility. Otherwise, pulses will soon go the edible oil way — imports will keep ballooning and the market will remain painfully volatile.

COMMENT NOW