2024-07-10 16:31:06
New Delhi: Farmers have sent a big message of relief to the government which is trying to deal with food inflation which has been above 8% for 7 consecutive months. In the Kharif season, farmers have sown crops in 14% more area as compared to a year ago. The biggest relief is on the pulses front. The area under pulses has increased by 54%. Inflation in pulses has been in double digits for almost a year. Inflation is expected to come under control if sowing increases and there is a good yield. The Agriculture Ministry on Monday gave information about the area under sowing of crops in the Kharif season. According to it, sowing has been done in 378.72 lakh hectares. In the Kharif season a year ago, the area was 331.9 lakh hectares. The ministry said that the area under paddy increased by 19.4% from 23.8 lakh hectares to 36.8 lakh hectares. The area under oilseeds increased by 54.7% from 51.9 lakh hectares to 80.3 lakh hectares. The area under cotton increased from 62.3 to 80.6 lakh hectares. However, the area under coarse cereals, including jowar, bajra and ragi, declined. It came down from 82.1 lakh hectares to 54.48 lakh hectares.
According to the ministry, the highest increase of 54.8% was in the case of pulses. Its area has increased from 23.8 lakh hectares a year ago to 36.8 lakh hectares. Among pulses, the area of pigeon pea increased the most. A year ago, pigeon pea was sown in 4.09 lakh hectares. This time the area is 20.82 lakh hectares. Similarly, the area of black gram has increased from 3.67 lakh hectares to 5.67 lakh hectares.
Pulses are expected to become cheaper
Retail food inflation was 8.69% in May. In this too, there was 17.14% inflation in pulses, which was 16.8% in April. In view of the high inflation in pulses, on 21 June, the government had imposed a stock limit on tur, chickpea and gram till 30 September. Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare had recently said that from the last week of July, import consignments will start arriving from East African countries including Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi, due to which retail prices of tur, chickpea and urad dal may decrease.
According to the data of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, on July 8, the maximum price of chana dal in different parts of the country was Rs 153 and the minimum price was Rs 60 per kg. The maximum price of tur was Rs 207 and the minimum price was Rs 124 per kg. Urad dal and moong dal were being sold from Rs 85 to Rs 180 per kg. The maximum price of masoor dal was Rs 174 and the minimum price was Rs 72 per kg.
The effect of the measures
After low production in Kharif season, concerns had increased due to the decrease in sowing area of pulses in Rabi season. According to the data of the Agriculture Ministry, the area of pulses in Rabi season decreased from 162 lakh 66 thousand hectares to 155 lakh 13 thousand hectares. The government estimates production of 121 lakh tonnes in the current crop year.
To increase the supply, the government had extended the duty-free import period of yellow peas till October. After this exemption from December last year, more than 15 lakh tonnes of yellow peas have been imported. To make pulses available to consumers at a low price, the central government is already selling chana dal under the Bharat Dal brand at Rs 60 per kg. Recently, it also removed the 66% import duty on chana till March next year so that its supply can increase.
A senior official of the Consumer Affairs Ministry said that as part of the strategy to focus on long-term measures, ‘farmers cultivating gram, lentil, urad and tur instead of water-intensive crops like paddy were being asked to sign an agreement. They were also given a guarantee of purchasing their entire crop at MSP for the next 5 years.’ The official said that this pre-registration has shown good results and in the Kharif season, farmers have increased the area under pulses to a record level.