India to double pulses import from Mozambique in 5 yrs

Scrambling to control prices of pulses that have touched Rs 200/kg, the government today approved doubling of import of tur and other dals from Mozambique to 2 lakh tonnes per annum in next five years.
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a long-term agreement for import of pulses from Mozambique that will be signed during his visit to African nation on Thursday.
Although India is the world's largest producer of pulses, it faces shortfall of 6-7 million tonnes a year to meet its domestic demand. The decline in domestic production in view of drought has resulted in sharp rise in retail prices, which is ruling as high as Rs 200/kg.

"The Cabinet has approved a long-term contract by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique for import of pulses either through the private channels or government-to -government (G2G) sales through state agencies nominated by the two countries," an official statement said.
The MoU aims to promote production of tur and other pulses in Mozambique by encouraging progressive increase in the trading of these pulses.
"The MoU includes targets for exports of tur and other pulses from Mozambique to India for five financial years and aims at doubling the trade from 1,00,000 tonnes in 2016-17 to 2,00,000 tonnes in 2020-21," it added.

Indian delegations had last month visited pulses growing nations, Mozambique and Myanmar, to explore government-to- government arrangement for assured supply of dals.

"In a revolutionary decision, we have done government-to- government arrangement with Mozambique. Private and government sectors will do trading. We will help them grow crop and buy that. This is a big decision to address the shortage of pulses in India," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The government is making efforts to boost domestic output and also taking action against hoarders, he added.
"In India, the tur and urad dals we eat, is grown in very few countries. We import from Myanmar and some other countries. But its not according to our taste," Prasad said.

Stating that the government's focused attention is to ensure assured availability of pulses, he said crop would be grown in Mozambique according to Indian's taste and would be monitored on government-to-government basis.
Pulses production fell to 17.06 million tonnes in the 2015-16 crop year (July-June) from 17.15 million tonnes in the previous year. In 2013-14, output was over 19 million tonnes.
The government recently decided to enhance the buffer stock limit of pulses to 8 lakh tonnes for making market intervention when prices firm up in retail markets. It is also importing pulses to boost domestic supply.
So far, 1.19 lakh tonnes of pulses has been procured from farmers for creating buffer stock and 46,000 tonnes have been contracted for imports.