Leveraging Policies for Self Sufficiency in Pulses in India

Although pulses are a major source of protein integral to the Indian diet, there has been a consistent demand–supply gap. Barring the last five years, total production of pulses remained stagnant at 12–14 million tonnes (mt) over the past five decades. Over the last 20 years, more than 550 improved varieties of different maturity periods and for different regions have been released by public research organisations, but the availability of quality seeds remained a serious concern, thereby resulting in yield uncertainty. The domestic supply fell short by 3–4 mt every year. Also, owing to increased consumption by the diet-conscious growing urban population in India, prices rose by 150 per cent to 200 per cent in recent years. The supportive trade policy has cooled down the pulses price during the deficit year, while encouraging price support policy and good monsoon helped in a big way to allocate 20 per cent more area to the crop, which resulted in record pulses production of 23 mt in 2016–2017. This article captures the influence of government policy on pulses production and suggests paradigm shift in strategy through short-, medium- and long-term plans to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses production and ensure nutritional security for population.