Chana farmers bet on wheat

Policy makers in the agriculture ministry could soon be caught in a cleft stick due to a likely fallout of increased minimum support price for wheat "" prices of chana, the highest consumed pulse, may rise and unsettle their plans of controlling the rates of essential food items.

It could well sound strange, but the fact is that the recently hiked minimum support price (MSP) for wheat, coupled with its higher yield per hectare, is wooing farmers away from chana cultivation and observers expect a fall in its production and a consequent rise in production.

The Centre increased MSP for chana as well last month to boost its cultivation, but the hike was higher for wheat.

Moreover, a relatively higher yield for wheat has made MSP hike more attractive for farmers and this is likely to bring down the chana acreage in the current sowing season, say market experts.

Chana's supply could go down as farmers prefer sowing wheat to chana, thus leading to a possible increase in prices.

"Farmers in the northern region may shift to wheat as it is more viable than chana. Though MSP for wheat is lower than chana, farmers may still opt for wheat due to the high yield per hectare," Karvy Comtrade analyst Chowda Reddy told PTI.

The productivity of wheat per hectare is 4 tonnes whereas chana yields only 850 kg per hectare.

"The higher productivity of wheat gives better profit to farmers even as the procurement price is less than chana," International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), principal scientist P M Gaur said.

The area under chana cultivation in north India has dipped sharply, Gaur noted, adding that chana acreage has come down below one million hectares from 4 million hectares in the past 40 years.

"Farmers in the northern region think growing wheat fetches them good business than chana. Moreover, wheat is a more assured crop," he said.

Late in October, the MSP for wheat and chana was hiked by 18 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

The procurement price for wheat was raised to Rs 1,000 per quintal and for chana to Rs 1,600 per quintal, from Rs 850 and Rs 1,445 last year.

"It is still early to predict exactly as to how chana sowing will pan out. However, a surprise decline in acreage cannot be ruled out," Sharekhan Commodities had said.

According to the official data, the acreage under chana till November 2, 2007 has dipped by almost 46 per cent to 8.78 lakh hectares from 16.08 lakh hectares last season.

The sowing has already commenced in some states. "The area under rabi chana has surged by 20 per cent in Andhra Pradesh. Sowing in Madhya Pradesh is in progress whereas in Rajasthan, it is picking up," Karvy's Reddy said.

MP, UP, Rajasthan and Maharashtra are the major chana producing states.

"We will come to know the exact situation only after a month when the sowing is over in the major growing states. The government forecast may not be correct. There may be 10-20 per cent decline in chana acreage but not more than 40 per cent as forecast by the government," Gaur said.

Chana, a rabi crop, is sown during November-December. It accounts for about 40 per cent of India's pulse production. According to the government estimates, chana output has been pegged at 5.97 million tonnes for 2006-07 season.

India is the largest chana producing country with a 64 per cent global share, but it imports 2-3 lakh tonnes of chana to meet its domestic consumption every year.

Knowing the pulse

The recently hiked MSP for wheat, coupled with its higher yield per hectare, is wooing farmers away from chana

Farmers in the northern region may shift to wheat as it is more viable than chana

The area under chana cultivation in north India has dipped sharply to below one million hectares from 4 million hectares in the past 40 years