With retail prices of pulses skyrocketing over Rs 100/kg, renowned farm scientist M S Swaminathan today hailed the government's decision to hike the pulses MSP by up to Rs 275 per quintal to boost output but expressed concern over lack of procurement arrangement.
He, however, insisted that the government should fix minimum support price (MSP) with at least a 50 per cent profit over the costs of production as recommended by him as Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers in a report in 2006.
"I applaud the decision. It is very much necessary to fix higher price for pulses to boost domestic production but it would have no meaning if the government does not enforce it and try to purchase it," Swaminathan told PTI.
There is procurement arrangement for wheat and rice and not for pulses and oilseeds. This issue needs to be addressed if the government aims to increase domestic output, he added.
Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati said, "The government has done a better job than CACP (Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices) on pulses. The idea of bonus on pulses MSP is a step in the right direction."
The government could have been bolder as the country imported four million tonnes of pulses last year and there is a need to give more encouragement and incentives to farmers to grow pulses, he said.
"The MSP has no meaning if the government does not put in place a mechanism to procure. Food Corporation of India should focus on pulses buying at MSP rate. It should shift from wheat and rice procurement as we have surplus supply," he said.
CACP recommended an increase of only Rs 50-75 per quintal in the MSP of pulses for this year. But the government took an exception and announced a bonus of Rs 200 per quintal over and above the pulses MSP to boost domestic output.
After inclusion of bonus, the MSP of tur and urad has been fixed at Rs 4,625 per quintal each and moong at Rs 4,850 per quintal for 2015-15 kharif season.
Asserting that bigger bonus is necessary for pulses growers, former CACP chief Gulati said, "Higher price of pulses is necessary to create a crop neutral incentive. Pulses is grown in only 16 per cent of irrigated area as against paddy which is cultivated in 60 per cent of irrigated land in the country."
Besides improving procurement facilities, there is also a need to focus on increasing the productivity with better use of seeds and brining more irrigated area under pulses cultivation in the country, he added.
Prices of pulses have risen by more than 64 per cent in the last one year as the domestic production fell by nearly two million tonnes (MT) in 2014-15 crop year due to unfavourable weather conditions.
For instance in Delhi retail markets, tur prices have rose to Rs 113/kg, urad to Rs 112/kg, moong to Rs 103/kg, masoor dal to Rs 94/kg and gram to Rs 68/kg, as per the data maintained by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
