Pulses outlook weak as output fluctuates

The country’s pulses production is witnessing inconsistencies in terms of contribution from the two main crop seasons — Rabi and Kharif. This has made the pulses outlook less firm despite the overall increase in production over the last four years.

For instance, the Rabi crop, which dominates pulses production, has seen a decline in its share to the total pulses output from 64 per cent in FY05 to 57 per cent in FY08. The last two years have seen a rise of around 6 per cent in production of pulses. However, the performance of both seasons was different. Rabi crop includes chana — the most dominant of pulses.

In FY07, production during the Rabi season was higher compared to the previous Rabi crop however in FY08 its production plunged. Similar trends were seen Kharif too where there was drop in production in FY07 and then a rise in FY08.

According to a report on pulses from the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, “The fact that production has not been consistent in terms of direction in both the seasons is a concern as it makes the overall outlook less firm, even though production has been increasing over the years.”
 

INCONSISTENT Showing production of pulses (in million tonnes)
Year	Kharif	Rabi	Total
2003-04	6.17	8.74	14.91
2004-05	4.72	8.41	13.13
2005-06	4.87	8.52	13.39
2006-07	4.80	9.40	14.20
2007-08	6.45	8.66	15.11
Source : Ministry of Agriculture

The first advance estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture for the kharif crop has estimated the crop to be 4.72 million tonnes against 6.45 million tonnes last year. The kharif pulses crop include tur, moong and urad. This is a drastic fall during the kharif season and production will fall below the 2006-07 level when the country produced 4.8 million tonnes of pulses during the kharif season.

On an average, the country’s consumption of pulses is 18 million tonnes. However, the domestic production has been around 14-15 million tonnes. The rest of the requirement is met through imports, mainly from Canada, Burma,Tanzania and Australia. During FY’08, the country imported 2.8 million tonnes of pulses, which, during the previous year stood at 2.27 million tonnes.

Narendra Singh of the Kanpur-based Indian Institute of Pulses Research, who looks after chana, said, “For the current rabi season, sowing has just started. It is tough to say of the expected production. But, there is little rain in the major chana-growing regions. But we expect a round of showers in January.”