Govt creates 1.1 mn tonnes pulse buffer stock

The government today said it has so far created pulses buffer stock of 1.1 million tonnes and asked the procurement agencies such as FCI and NAFED to sell older stockpile.
The government had earlier decided to create 2 million tonnes of buffer stock for making market intervention in case of price rise.
"The Committee of Secretaries reviewed the status of pulses procurement and price situation of the 22 essential commodities," an official statement said.
On the procurement of pulses, the Committee expressed satisfaction over creation of a buffer stock of about 11 lakh tonnes, of which more than 6 lakh tonnes has been procured during Kharif marketing season 2016-17.

The panel directed the procurement agencies to continue buying pulses to ensure remunerative prices to farmers.
"The Committee also advised that disposal of older stock from the buffer may be taken up by the agencies. Suitable mechanism may be put in place to facilitate such disposal to States/Central agencies and/or other stakeholders," the statement said.

The Committee said that states should be asked to ensure minimum support prices (MSP) to farmers in the mandis through appropriate enabling provisions in APMC Act.
Production of pulses is projected to be all-time high at 22.14 million tonnes this year as against actual output of 16.35 million tonnes last year. The previous record was 19.25 million tonnes in 2013-14.

The country imported nearly 6 million tonnes of pulses last fiscal to meet domestic demand.