Ashwani Mahajan
First advance estimates of Kharif production are out and it is estimated that this year Kharif production of food grains would increase to 135 million tonnes, up from 124 million tonnes last year, that is, an increase of 9 percent. This will be a record! However, this year the composition of food grains would change significantly, as production of pulses is expected to increase by 57 percent and that of oilseeds, by 41 percent. In coarse grains this increase is expected to be 19 percent. In quantitative terms, production of oilseed this Kharif season would increase to 23.4 million tonnes, as compared to 16.6 million tonnes last year. This is really good news for the common man, who will get a relief in terms of prices.
Reduced Dependence on Imports
Due to increasing population on the one hand and stagnant production of pulses and oilseeds on the other, domestic production was falling short of needs of the country. Thanks to persistent increase in per hectare productivity and rising area under the cultivation of wheat and rice, country not only became self-reliant in food grains, export of rice became a significant foreign exchange earner. Though production of sugarcane also increased significantly, farmers suffered due to the late payments from sugar mills. However, situation with regard to pulses and oil seeds went bad to worst.
It is notable that in 1960 per capita availability pulses was 70 grams in India, which fell to only 40 grams by 2014-15. This resulted in ever increasing dependence on import of pulses and we find that import of pulses increased to Rs. 25,609 crores by 2015-16. In case of edible oils, dependence on imports has been much higher and by 2015-16 it reached Rs. 68,630 crores. This not only resulted in out flow of valuable foreign exchange, consumers also had to pay much higher prices for imported pulses and edible oils. Its notable that this year, prices of pulses reached Rs. 150 to Rs. 200 per kg and pulses went out of reach of the common man.
This Kharif Season is Special
If we look at the trends of production in the previous years, we find almost stagnant production of pulses. Whereas in 2014-15 Kharif season, production of pulses was 5.7 million tonnes, this Kharif season it is expected to increase 11.4 million tonnes. If production of pulses increases in same proportion in Rabi season as well, it is very much possible that our dependence on imports may go down significantly, and prices may also come under control. Expecting a good production this year, markets have also started responding in terms of lower prices of pulses. It is notable that whenever there is a shortage, benefits had gone to speculators and not to farmers. Estimates of increased production of oil seeds have shown yet another ray of hope in the country that the dependence on imports of edible oil may go down significantly.
Government’s Neglects of Pulses and Oil Seeds
On the one hand whereas our land under cultivation has been declining, though marginally; due to encouragement received from the government in terms of better seeds and support prices, domestic production of wheat and rice increased significantly. However, pulses and oil seeds were not fortunate to have received such an encouragement; rather they were the victims of government neglect. Whereas, in 1990-91 production of wheat was hardly 55 million tonnes, it increased to 93.5 million tonnes in 2015-16. Production of rice increased from 74 million tonnes to 104.3 million tonnes during the same period. However, if we look at production of pulses it increased from 14.3 million tonnes to only 16.5 million tonnes during this period. Similarly, oil seeds production increased from 19 million tonnes to 25.3 million tonnes during this period. Due to significant increase in income of the people during these years, demand for pulses and edible oils increased significantly. This resulted in ever rising imports of pulses and edible oils and by 2015-16 our import of pulses and oil seeds increased to Rs. 94,239 crores, that is, nearly 14.4 billion dollars.
We find that though net area under cultivation has remained stagnant or have fallen marginally, there has been a marginal increase in gross area under cultivation, as a result of little better irrigation facilities over the years. However, area under cultivation of pulses and oilseeds has not shown any uptrend. This has been due to neglect and lack of incentive from the government. Many of our traditional oils have gone out of cultivation and new types of oilseeds became more important. For instance, production of soya bean increased. However, due to over all shortage of edible oils country started importing palm oil, rape seed oil, soya oil and canola oil to meet its edible oil needs.
Due to better performance this Kharif season, there is a ray of hope for future. Government deserves appreciation for its pro active approach. However, there is a long way to go to achieve self reliance in pulses and edible oils. This year performance has proved that it is very much possible to increase production of these products. Though import of pulses and edible oils is legitimised to control prices, the long term solution lies in increased production of pulses and oil seeds. Need of the hour is that, encouragement is given to these crops by way of improved seeds, better prices, finance and warehousing. It is unfortunate that in the last 25 years country became increasingly dependent on imports causing out flow of valuable foreign exchange. High prices of pulses would have definitely encouraged the farmers to increase cultivation of pulses, in the long run government will have to work hard to encourage these crops. In this context its notable that government has been trying to promote genetically modified seeds to increase production; however, we find that production could be increased sufficiently by way of price incentives. Therefore solution to the shortage of pulses and oilseeds lies in price incentives and not GM technology.
(The author is Associate Professor, PGDAV College, University of Delhi)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel