Plan to increase govt procurement of arhar dal to 10 LT; NAFED, NCCF to buy
To control the rising domestic prices of arhar dal, the government plans to procure up to 10 lakh tonnes of the produce. This purchase will be done through government cooperative NAFED and NCCF, according to the Ministry of Cooperation. Earlier, many decisions had been taken including reducing duty on import of pigeon pea and imposing stock limit, but prices did not come down.
To control the rising domestic prices of arhar dal, the government plans to procure up to 10 lakh tonnes of the produce. This purchase will be done through government cooperative NAFED and NCCF, according to the Ministry of Cooperation. Earlier, many decisions had been taken including reducing duty on import of pigeon pea and imposing stock limit, but prices did not come down.
The ministry has issued a post on the social media platform X in this regard, stating that it wanted to stabilize the price of arhar dal. The increase in procurement through the two major national cooperative societies - NAFED and NCCF - will be 8-10 lakh tonnes. In another post, the ministry has said that this purchase will be done through Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) at market price. This initiative will encourage farmers to get assured markets and remunerative prices for their produce.
Last year, domestic production of pigeon pea had decreased by about 8 lakh tonnes. Since then, there has been a continuous upward trend in the prices of arhar dal. This pulse which was available at Rs 120-125 per kg last year has now reached Rs 170-190 per kg.
According to the final estimates of crop production for 2022-23 of the Union Agriculture Ministry, the production of pigeon pea stood at 33.12 lakh tonnes. In the first advance estimate for 2023-24, the production of pigeon pea is estimated at 34.21 lakh tonnes. Domestic production of pigeon pea in 2021-22 was 42.20 lakh tonnes.
The area under sowing of arhar, the main pulse crop of the Kharif season, has been around 37.50 lakh hectares in the current Kharif season 2023-24. This is about 3 lakh hectares less than last season's 40.58 lakh hectares.
This time the monsoon has also not been good. In such a situation, the possibility of production being affected cannot be ruled out. Pigeon pea harvesting is going to start in the next few days.
