Pulses output rises by 35% to 3.25 million tonnes in Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh agricultural department reported a 35 per cent jump in pulses output to 3.25 million tonne (mt), with domestic prices still remaining high.

UP Agriculture Minister, Surya Pratap Shahi said pulses production in the state increased by 850,000 tonne to 3.25 mt from 2.4 mt this year.

India imports 15 per cent of its annual pulses consumption owing to a gap between domestic demand and supply, which translates into higher retail prices.

Experts have suggested increasing the production and productivity of oilseeds and pulses. According to a research paper released by the National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (Nabard), and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier) last year, domestic pulses output was projected to rise to 35 mt by 2030-31 from 26 mt in the 2022-23 crop year. Yet, India would still need imports to cater for domestic demand estimated at 3.9 mt by 2030-31.

Last week, Shahi met Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in New Delhi to apprise him of the steps taken by UP to boost the production of oilseeds and pulses.

Meanwhile, UP has launched a digital crop survey and the registration of farmers.

The state is looking to double farm income by taking a multipronged approach of increasing farm productivity, yield, acreage, apart from providing a profitable marketing value chain.

Moreover, UP farm exports have increased to Rs 20,000 crore even as the state is looking to double farm shipments in three years. UP’s share in national agricultural exports is 7.35 per cent. Farm exports comprise agricultural and horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables, food grains and oilseeds, especially those promoted by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).

UP produces 21 per cent of the food grains, 10.8 per cent fruits and 15.4 per cent of the vegetables in India. The agricultural sector contributes over 25 per cent to the UP Gross State Domestic product (GSDP).

The principal crops grown in UP include wheat, maize, paddy, potato, sugarcane, pulses, oilseeds apart from a range of fruit and vegetable crops.

In UP, the total cultivated area is pegged at 17.7 million hectares (mh), of which the irrigated area is roughly 87 per cent.

UP tops in the production of food grains, sugarcane, potato, milk, meat as well as horticultural produce basket.