Govt to raise buffer stock for pulses to 20L tonnes

New Delhi, Sep 12 (PTI) Government today decided to raisebuffer stock of pulses to 20 lakh tonnes from 8 lakh tonnesnow through domestic procurement and imports in order to keepthe prices stable and encourage farmers to grow dals. The Centre had created buffer stock of pulses to makemarket intervention and supply pulses at cheaper rates. Retail prices have fallen in the last few weeks and arecurrently in a range of Rs 115-170 per kg across major cities. "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approvedthe proposal of Department of Consumer Affairs on enhancingthe buffer stock for pulses up to 20 lakh tonnes. The bufferstock will be built through domestic procurement and importsof 10 lakh tonnes each," an official statement said. The requisite funds for this operation would be providedthrough the ‘Price Stabilisation Fund’ Scheme of theDepartment. "The exercise will ensure a stable price regime for pulsesand will also encourage domestic farmers to increaseproduction of pulses," it added. For creating the additional buffer stock, the domesticprocurement would be undertaken by the central agenciesnamely, FCI, NAFED and SFAC, at the prevailing market pricesif the prevailing market prices are above Minimum SupportPrices (MSP), and at MSP, if otherwise. In addition, state governments may also be authorised,wherever possible, to undertake the procurement in a mannersimilar to decentralised procurement of foodgrains. Import of pulses to meet the buffer stock requirementswould be undertaken through government-to-government contractand/or spot purchase from the global market through designatedpublic sector enterprise of Department of Commerce. India’s pulses production fell to 16.47 million tonnes in2015-16 crop year (July-June) from 17.15 million tonnes in theprevious year. Pulses output had remained low in the past twocrop years due to drought, resulting in spike of retail rates. However, production is expected to rise to 20 milliontonnes in 2016-17 as farmers have grown pulses in larger areathis year following good monsoon, high market prices and sharpincrease in the minimum support price (MSP). PTI MJH JD KKSABK