India plans farming of pulses in Namibia

Faced with severe shortage of pulses, which have also seen a runaway rise in prices, India has proposed a plan to Namibia for taking up contract farming there to boost supplies in the domestic market.

"We will explore how we could try to do contract farming in Namibia. Namibian farmers would grow pulses on Namibian land, which could then be exported to India," Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said after his meeting with Namibian Minister of Works, Transport and Communication Joel Kaapanda.

India produces, on an average, about 14 million tonne of pulses and depends on imports to meet increased demand. With rising population, it is expected that the country would import about 2-3 million tonne pulses for the next 25-30 years.

Contract farming of pulses would give an assured supply of pulses to India while it would also help Namibia in reducing its trade deficit, Ramesh said. "There would be a buy-back guarantee of pulses by the Indian government," he added.

(Reporting by Yoshita Singh)