Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Friday expressed concern at domestic production of pulses falling despite rising demand.
“Whether it is foodgrain or hoticulture produce, we are doing quite well. There are only two areas where we have to work more. One is pulses production,” Pawar said here at a function.
This year, domestic pulses output is expected to reach 16.5-17 million tonnes (mt). “But there will be a small gap and that will probably be met through imports,” he said.
Till 2009-10, the country’s production of pulses remained at 14 mt against the annual demand of 18 mt. In 2010-11, domestic output improved to 18.24 mt, he said.
According to latest estimates, wheat production is expected to be a record 88.31 mt in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June), as against 86.87 mt in the previous year.
With current levels of production, Pawar said, “There will not be any problem in meeting the requirements of the National Food Security Bill”, which aims to provide subsidised foodgrain to 63.5 per cent of the country’s population. However, the real challenge will be to maintain such high levels of production,” he said.
On the role of research institutes, the agriculture minister said the growth achieved so far in the farm sector will vanish soon if the government research body ICAR does not provide solutions to the farming community.
“While we have been fortunate that our production levels have risen over the last few years, I fear this growth story will peter out unless the ICAR system stands up to count among the solution providers for the farming community,” he said.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences. It has 97 institutes and 47 agricultural universities.
