New Delhi:
The government has decided to impose an import duty on pulses which was abolished more than a decade back.
The decision of the central govt comes after Kharif farm gate prices of pulses, especially tur or arhar and urad, have been falling below the minimum support price (MSP) in mandis across key producing states, As per media sources,the government had been pursuing a zero percent duty on imports since 2006 so as to bridge the gap between demand and supply of pulses,.
However, this year (2016-17), in anticipation of a bumper crop, the government has decided to restrict import in a bid to protect domestic farmers.
The farm gate prices of pulses like arhar and urad has been around R5,050 per quintal. This is for the first time that the government agencies have procured arhar and urad from the farmers because of the gap between demand and supply and the retail prices are usually much higher than the MSP.
According to second advance estimate released recently by agriculture ministry, the pulse production during 2016-17 crop year (July-June) is expected to increase by more than 35% compared to previous year’s output.
Rabi or winter pulses such as channa have been sown in 15.97 million hectares, which is 11.15% more than last year (2015-16) and 8.14% more than last five year’s average. “We can’t allow farmers to suffer because of bumper pulses production thus we will be imposing an duty on pulses discouraging imports,” an official said.
