Singh in November had urged businessmen and officials in Brazil to grow pulses, especially tur (pigeon pea) and urad, to cater to Indian consumers amid falling domestic production, and as a way of diversifying the sourcing. 

“We need to ensure that food items are available in the country for our 1.4 billion consumers at an affordable price,” Singh said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Global Pulse Confederation conference in New Delhi.

“There are two issues, affordability and availability, and both are interrelated. As we are predominantly a vegetarian country and as income levels are rising, the consumption of protein via pulses is also increasing. To cater to the rising demand, we cannot rely only on Myanmar. We must diversify our risk and production of it could be thought of in Brazil and Argentina,” he said.

Singh said about 3,000 tonnes of urad had arrived in India from Brazil and another 20,000 tonnes are expected this year. “We will also take our discussions forward on tur imports with Brazil,” he added. 

Last year, India imported about 3.1 million tonnes of pulses. About half of those were lentils, majorly from Canada and Australia. 

India produces about 28 mt of pulses, making it the largest producer and consumer of pulses globally. But for tur, urad and masur (lentil), India depends on imports from Australia, Canada, Russia, Myanmar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan and Malawi. 

Despite some improvement since 2011, the gap between demand and supply of pulses is widening and has necessitated annual import of 2.5-3 mt of pulses in the past few years. 

In October, the agriculture ministry lowered its final estimate for pulses production to 26 mt for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) from its May estimate of 27.5 mt due to a drop in production of major pulses such as tur and chana (gram). //did this result in higher prices?//

In the 2021-22 crop year, the country is estimated to have produced 27 mt of pulses. 

In the 2023-24 crop year, India is expected to produce 3.4 mt of tur, slightly more than last season’s 3.3 mt, and 1.5 mt of urad in the Kharif season alone, against 1.8 mt in the previous season. 

India produced 2.6 mt of urad in the 2022-23 crop year. The revised crop estimate, including for Rabi crops, are expected to be issued later this month. 

Cooperation minister Amit Shah last month encouraged farmers to grow more pulses and make the country self-reliant in this sector. 

“It is necessary to make India self-reliant in pulses production. I assure you that by December 2027, India will become self-reliant in the production of pulses and we will not have to buy a kilo of pulses from other nations,” Shah said at the launch of the e-Samridhi website through which farmers can sell tur dal to government procurement agencies.

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Published: 15 Feb 2024, 07:42 PM IST