Sreelatha Menon: Pulses, missions and commissions

Pulses Mission-II will show how much the nation loves its dal and the dal grower.

People are learning to do without their dal. That may not be the only tragedy in a country which has been its biggest producer and consumer.

This is also a sign of the burden on the pulse farmer, for whom pulses remain the last option. The government’s attempts to bring down the prices show exactly why the pulse farmer is a dying breed.

For instance, though arhar sells for Rs 100 a kg, or Rs 10,000 a quintal, in the retail market, the government recently increased the support price from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,300. Arhar takes six-nine months to mature.

It is like a warning to the farmer against producing more. For urad and moong, which are short-duration crops, the increase is from Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,750. This can hardly be a motivation to sow more.

The second major decision on pulses was last week, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of another mission on pulses. Several missions and commissions have preceded this one.

The first mission on pulses and oilseeds was announced by the Rajiv Gandhi government. It was discontinued before it could achieve anything.

In 2007, the UPA government set up the Food Security Mission for rice, wheat and pulses. It is in its third year now. It provides seed and sprinkler subsidies, which are not enough motivation for growing more pulses.

The previous government also had a National Commission for Farmers headed by MS Swaminathan which recommended that the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices should be turned into an autonomous body and the support price increased from 15 per cent of the profit to 50 per cent of the profit for all crops.

The idea was that the “net take-home income” of a farmer should be comparable with those of civil servants The commission also wanted community food grain banks, which is not on the agenda of the food security mission in the 168 pulse districts it is working in. The mission also does not have on its agenda issues like mapping pulse farmers, shepherding them at the village level to improve acreage and yield and providing assured procurement at a price that motivates them to grow more.

The government has been lavishing funds on subsidies and imports when all it needs to do is to pay farmers enough to grow pulses. This when import duties have been removed and states are selling imported pulses at subsidised rates.

The Maharashtra government, for instance, has announced sale of imported pulses at Rs 55 a kg. Other states may soon follow suit.

Some things have not changed in the last two decades. Production of pulses is one. It has fluctuated between 11 million tonnes and 14.8 million tonnes depending on rains. There has been no yield improvement or technological breakthrough. T Haque, former head of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices, says the demand of 17 million tonnes prompts the government to import rather than to turn to its farmers.

But if the country loves its dal, it better pamper its dal grower than the dal importer.

Pulses Mission-II will show how much this government loves its pulses.