Madhya Pradesh To Pursue A 60 Per Cent Raise In Pulse Production

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told Reuters in an interview that he will be helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his goal to make India self-sufficient in pulses. He plans to do this by raising the production of the crop by 60 per cent over the next three years.

India has been struggling to meet its high demand for pulses as the world’s biggest consumer of the protein-rich food. Due to inadequate rainfall, among other factors, the output of pulses has been in decline. According to the International Trade Center, India’s demand for pulses -- which, at 23 million tonnes, is hard to meet -- could rise to 32 million tonnes per year within the next 14 years.

In October last year, India signed a pact with Mozambique to develop and help produce 6,90,000 tonnes of pulses over a five-year period from 2016 to 2021. It’s already importing from countries like Canada, Austria and Ethiopia, among others. The country’s import bill for pulses is at around $2.65 billion a year, as per the Reuters report. As a top producer of pulses, if Madhya Pradesh could step up its production of pulses, it will go a long way in helping the country deal with its demand for pulses better.