Amid import pressure: Govt to promote pulses cultivation in 7 states via seed distribution drives
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said that the promotion of arhar and urad cultivation through seed distribution campaigns would be carried out in the selected districts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur and Tripura. For this, National Cooperative Consumer's Federation of India Limited (NCCF), which comes under the ministry, has begun preparations, she said.
She said the pilot campaign in two districts of Jharkhand last year was encouraging and it is being extended to other states.
In the ongoing kharif season (2025), the arhar and urad cultivation will be promoted in Palamu, Latehar and Garhwa in Jharkhand; Mirzapur and Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh; Gaya and Jehabad in Bihar; and Vijaypura in Karnataka. These districts were identified on two criteria — they are rainfed and they have 'Aspirational Blocks' identified by the NITI Aayog.
Over `1 crore will be spent on distribution of the seeds in these districts and the government will ensure 100 per cent procurement based on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) if the market prices go down, she said. For the kharif marketing season 2025-26, the MSPs of arhar and urad have been fixed at `8,000 and `7,800 per quintal, respectively.
India imports about a dozen pulses from different countries. In 2023-24, India's pulses imports rose to a record high of 47.38 lakh tonnes, almost double of 24.96 lakh tonnes in 2022-23.
The government has hiked the MSP for pulses in recent years.
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