Daal not enough? Grow them abroad, says Pawar

The Telegraph (Calcutta) | 5 December 2010

India's Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar

by Sharad Pawar

New Delh: Few politicians can match Sharad Pawar when it comes to having one’s finger on the aam aadmi’s pulse, er pulses.

At a time Indian entrepreneurs are manufacturing Jaguars and Landrovers abroad, the Union agriculture and food minister wants them to cultivate daal overseas.

That would not only help fulfil the growing domestic demand for lentils, Pawar declared today, but also curb the environment-unfriendly dependence on animal proteins.

At the sixth Agriwatch Global Pulses Summit here, Pawar asked the delegates to ponder over the “viability of Indians leasing land abroad for growing pulses and exporting it back to India”.

He praised the Indian agricultural entrepreneurs who had already attempted growing lentils in Africa and South America, saying: “Such efforts need to be supported.”

The minister made it clear that while the government would not invest in buying land abroad, his ministry would act as a facilitator “if the private players show interest in this”.

But the veteran politician took care to allay fears that his call might lead to a competitive disadvantage for domestic farmers.

“To clear any misgivings about our import policy vis-a-vis pulses, I must mention that our import policies are linked to... the principle of balancing the farmer’s interest in a manner that the prices are not distorted and the Indian farmer continues to get a good return for his produce,” he said.

Although India is the world’s largest producer, importer and consumer of daal, the land under lentil cultivation has been stagnant at 23-24 million acres for years. The yield (around 600kg a hectare) is less than half the global average and the per capita availability, at about 16kg, is one-fifth lower than what nutritionists recommend.

The poor, who traditionally fell back on daal whenever vegetables got too expensive, now find lentils increasingly out of their reach because of high open-market prices and unmitigated food inflation.

According to the government’s assessment, the demand-supply mismatch that is pushing up prices is unlikely to stabilise until 2011-2012.

Myanmar and Canada, the big lentil-growing countries from where India imports, are shifting more towards corn and oilseeds. The uncertainty of lentils’ availability has prompted the National Advisory Council to exclude them from the ambit of the proposed food security law that recommends giving people a legal entitlement to subsidised food grains (wheat, rice and millets).

Making a pitch for lentil cultivation, Pawar said: “From the environmental point of view also, consumption of pulses is more beneficial than (that of) meat products.... Pulses are the most efficient natural foods for production of proteins.”

He emphasised that as primary protein producers, lentils only harness natural elements like sunlight, soil nutrients and water while cattle and pigs consume 7kg and 4kg of grain per animal, respectively, to produce 1kg of beef or pork.

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APN News | 5 December 2010

http://apnnews.com/2010/12/05/govt-will-encourage-land-buy-abroad-for-pulses-production/

In order to meet the domestic demand, the government will act as a facilitator for private industry to buy land abroad to grow pulses, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.

At present, the country has about 23 million hectares of land under pulses cultivation that produces about 14-15 million tonnes of pulses annually.

The shortage of about 2-3 million tonnes is met through imports.

“As a government, we would not invest in buying land (to grow pulses) in other countries… my Ministry can definitely act as a facilitator if the private players show interest in this,” Pawar said at the Global Pulses Summit in New Delhi on Sunday.

Some enterprising Indians are already leasing land in Africaand South America for growing pulses and exporting it back toIndia. “Such efforts need to be supported,” he said.

The Minister expressed confidence about achieving the country’s target output of an “all time record of 16.5 million tonnes of pulses this year”. This is more than last year output of 14.57 million tonnes.

However, an expected higher production of pulses need not dampen the global trading community, as India is still far short of the projected (domestic) demand of nearly 25-30 million tonnes over the next decade, he pointed out.

Pawar said the government’s policy on import of pulses would balance farmers’ interest in a manner that will not allow distortion of domestic prices and they (farmers) will continue to get good price for their produce.

Besides, he added that the government was in the process of evolving a mechanism to work out regular tenders on pulses’ import through state trading firms to ensure better planning and management of supply chain.

On short supply of some pulses in the global market, the Minister elaborated that there was little surplus available in the world for supply of red gram, black gram and green gram, which are preferred in the south and central parts of India.

“It is a challenge for us to ensure supply of these pulses, as they are grown in monsoon period and are prone to losses due to moisture stress,” he said.

He also pressed on the need to enhance research efforts and even adoption of biotech tools to address the challenges of raising yield levels and reducing pest attacks on pulses crops
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