Pulses buffer stock: Govt to get going next month

Centre decides to create one of 40,000 tonnes, via direct purchase from farmers by Nafed; scheme gets Rs 200 cr for now

The government plans a buffer stock of 30,000 tonnes of tur or arhar (pigeon pea) and 10,000 tonnes of urad (black gram) by purchase from farmers at market rates.

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) will start purchasing next month. In the longer run, Food Corporation of India (FCI) could be got to do so for the government. The stock will be liquidated as and when the retail price of pulses rises, either through the Centre’s own retailing arms or via states.  

The pulses will be sold to consumers at prices lower than the market rates, at a no profit, no loss basis. India’s annual shortfall between pulses’ production and consumption is four to five million tonnes, met through import. Nafed and other agencies have been allocated Rs 200 crore from the newly created Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to undertake this purchase and sale operation.

“From November, the new urad crop will start arriving in the market, while new tur will start coming from December. We have directed Nafed to purchase on behalf of the central government for creation of the buffer stock,” minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan told reporters after a meeting to discuss the prices of pulses. “The proposal has also been moved to allow FCI to procure pulses on behalf of the government.”

In the next few days, Kendriya Bhandar and Mother Dairy’s Safal outlets would sell imported tur at Rs 120-130 a kg in Delhi, said Balyan.

The meeting was called in the backdrop of a sharp rise in the price of tur and arhar across the country, retailing at even Rs 200 a kg in some parts.

Earlier this week, an inter-ministerial group headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had decided to create a buffer stock of pulses, preferably through import. The Group also decided to use the PSF to boost supply and check prices. Retail prices of tur dal have risen up to Rs 190 a kg in many parts, from Rs 85 a kg a year before. Urad prices rose to Rs 190 a kg from Rs 100 a kg in the year-ago period.

Prices have risen due to less production in the 2014-15 season, with damage to the standing crop in this year’s rabi season and also drought in some parts during kharif 2015.

India is expected to produce 17.4 million tonnes in 2014-15 (July to June), almost 10 per cent less than in 2013-14. Production in the 2015-16 crop year is expected to be 18.3 mt. In 2014-15, imports were 4.6 mt; in 2015-16, this is expected at 4.1 mt, mostly through private traders. The Centre recently imported around 5,000 tonnes, of which half will be delivered to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress party said it criticised the Centre’s move to observe World Food Day at a time when pulses’ prices were rising sharply. “We want to ask the prime minister and ruling party if Indians have a right to food and nutrition,” party spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters.