India to import 1L t pulses a year from Mozambique

New Delhi, July 5: In a bid to bridge domestic shortfall and curb price rise, India will import 1 lakh tonne of arhar and tur dal annually from Mozambique. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his forthcoming visit to African countries including Mozambique,willbesigninganagreement in this regard.

Briefing mediapersons, Amar Sinha, secretary (economic relations), ministry of external affairs, said, “India will sign an MoU with Mozambique for the import of at least 1 lakh tonne of pulses, which will also ensure that the Mozambiquefarmersarepaid their minimum support prices.”However,hesaidthere are no plans to lease farm lands for growing pulses in Mozambique, which will be the first stop on July 7, on the grounds that it is a politically sensitive issue. Under the MoU with Mozambique, to be inked in the presence of the leaders of both sides, India may support a network of farmers in the African country who will be given logistical support,technology,andseeds and pulses will be procured from them through government agencies.

Apartfromagricultureand food, deepening cooperation in the areas of hydrocarbons, maritime security, and trade and investment will also be major focus areas of Modi’s African tour.

Last month, the government had sent a high-level delegation chaired by department of consumer affairs secretary Hem Pande to Mozambique, to explore both short-term and long-term measures to import pulses from Mozambique on a government-to-government basis. The high-level delegation had officials from the commerce and agriculture ministries,alongwithstate-owned trading firm MMTC.

Besides Mozambique, the government is also exploring possibilities of import of pulses from African countries like Malawi through leasing of farms for growing pulses, to meet domestic demand. The decision to explore increasing pulses import on a government-to-government basis was taken last week in a meeting chaired by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

The pulses prices, especially tur or arhar, urad and moong, have been rising despite several government measures such as the imposition of stockholding limits on traders, creation of buffer stocks up to 8 lakh tonne and ban on chana futures in commodity bourse NCDEX.

In a bid to create a buffer stocks of pulses, the government agencies have so far procured 1.15 lakh tonne of pulses (urad and tur/arhar) in the just-concluded kharif and rabi seasons.