Cancel notification on tur imports, say dealers

Farmer bodies here are protesting at the central government allowing the import of 1.5 million quintals of tur (pigeon pea), a sequel to the high prices of the lentil a year before. The central notification came last week.

Tur is a kharif crop. Maharashtra and Karnataka are major producers. The Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha says the price of tur is now well below the government-notified Minimum Support Price (MSP), with half a million tonnes of stock still with farmers. Government agencies are supposed to be holding up to a million tonnes.

Says Ajit Nawale, the Sabha general secretary: “Tur in Maharashtra is largely grown in Vidarbha district, where farmers usually face one or the other problem, year after year. They can only grow cotton, tur or soyabean.” It says it is planning a statewide stir on June 1.

In 2016-17, the price was ~100-150 a kg. In the following year, farmers significantly increased the sowing area. And, during that year of rising prices, the government signed import agreements for 3.75 million quintals over three years from Mozambique. About 2.15 mn quintals was imported since 2016 and the remaining 1.5 mn qtls will have to be imported in 2018-19.

Devendra Vora of Navi Mumbai-based Friendship Traders said, “Releasing the import quota for import from Mozambique at this time will hurt farmers.”

Tur is currently ~38-42 a kg in Indian wholesale markets; the MSP is ~54 a kg. The cost of import from Mozambique is ~28-30 a kg. As this is a government to government deal, it will have to be honoured.

India’s tur crop was 4.87 million tonnes in 2016-17 and is estimated at 4.18 million tonnes in 2017-18.

Bimal Kothari, vice-president of the Indian Pulses and Grains Association, said: “We have written to the government to not open the import quota now but to do so when prices increase as expected during festival time. Allowing import during that period will have a price stabilising impact; now, it will depress prices.”