Centre aims at 1.5 mt of extra rabi pulse production

The central government hopes to achieve 1.5 million tonnes (mt) of additional pulses output during the rabi sowing season of October/November.

The area left fallow for rice in Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha is being targeted — 80 per cent for pulses and the other 20 per cent for oilseed. Also, to promote cultivation in the northeastern states, where most of the agricultural land is used for only one crop through the year.

“We are planning to cover 5,000 villages in the northeastern states this rabi, with a target to cover an area of 1.87 million hectares, which will contribute an additional 1.35 million tonnes of pulses and oilseeds during 2018-19,” said a senior food ministry official.

Targeting of rice fallow began with 4,000 villages in 2016-17, covering an area of 1.5 million ha (1.2 mn ha in pulses and 0.3 mn ha of oilseed). This yielded nearly one mt of pulses and oilseed that year. The programme was extended in 2017-18, resulting in additional production of 792,000 tonnes of pulses and 112,000 tonnes of oilseed.

Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan says this expansion in acreage would help India progress to self-reliance. “The government is committed to use internal resources to raise local production to meet domestic consumption,” he had said on a recent visit to Mumbai.

The Centre’s estimate is 9.22 mt of pulses for the kharif harvesting season, to begin in a few weeks, as compared to one of 9.34 mt for kharif 2017-18. Rabi output is expected to see a rise. With total output of 25.23 mt, India achieved self-sufficiency for 2017-18. In contrast, total pulses output in 201516 was 16.35 mt and seven to eight mt was imported. Annual home consumption is about 25 mt. Dissemination of latest crop technology, new seed varities and better management of nutrition and pests, beside water saving devices and farm implements, are being promoted.