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Pulses, oilseeds output: Poor policy support to blame

G. Chandrashekhar

MUMBAI, July 10

THE deep anguish expressed by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan over massive imports of agricultural products and the discriminatory treatment meted out to farmers (Business Line, July 7) deserves to engage the attention of policy makers in New Delhi. The venerable s cientist does not see any logic for the country to be flooded with imports of pulses and edible oils. He has advocated protection to farmers growing pulses and oilseeds. In order to appreciate the domestic compulsions of having to import these essentia l food products, a brief recapitulation of recent history may be in order. India started to import edible oils sometime in the mid 1970s and pulses since the early 1980s. This was necessitated by the fact that domestic demand for these two essential comm odities of mass consumption was rising faster than the production increases.

A look at pulses, in particular, is heart-rending. The area under cultivation has remained static at 22-24 million hectares for the last 40 years. According to the Government statistics, in 1960-61 pulses were grown in 23.6 million ha., which dipped by a million ha. in 1970-71 and 1980-81 to 22.5 million ha. In 1990-91, it expanded slightly to the highest level of 24.7 million ha. In 1998-99, it stood at 23.8 million ha.

With the yields remaining stagnant for decades because of factors such as cultivation on rainfed, marginal and sub-marginal lands, high susceptibility to insect-pests and diseases, weather aberrations and lack of genetic breakthrough, the annual pulses o utput has shown no appreciable change over the last 40 years.

Currently, only three million ha. or less than 15 per cent of the area is irrigated. Little wonder, then, that the production of 12.7 million tonnes in 1960-61 showed a good deal of volatility over the subsequent decades and reached 14.8 m.t. in 1998-99. The present yield of 600 kg per hectare shows no major improvement over 540 kg in 1960-61.

As a result, the per capita availability of pulses has consistently declined over the years. Indeed, the common man has been denied a major source of protein in the Indian diet. Ironically, pulses are not supplied under the public distribution system to the really needy and vulnerable sections of the population. The management of pulses and its current sorry state reflect rather poorly on the policies and programmes of the Government over the last many years.

The country's experience with oilseeds cultivation has not been significantly different. However, the setting up of the Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) in 1986 did bring about a major expansion in both area and yield, thereby contributing to enhance d oilseeds output. There is no denying the fact that normal monsoons since 1988 and the Government's dear-oil policy of the late 1980s and early 1990s contributed to a considerable extent in raising oilseeds output.

Unlike pulses, oilseeds production has consistently increased. From seven m.t. in 1960-61, the output expanded to 18.6 m.t. in 1990-91 and stood at 25.2 m.t. in 1998-99. But the experience of the last five years shows that the momentum of growth has been lost and domestic output has begun to trail consumption demand by a large measure, necessitating imports. Indeed, one school of thought believes that the Green Revolution of the 1960s completely by-passed essential foods such as pulses and oil seeds, and concentrated on staples such as wheat and rice. It was perhaps the compulsion of the times that fine cereals, rather than any other crop, were promoted vigorously as the country had then become a major importer and had to rely on food imports.

In the case of edible oils, the country's self-sufficiency level has been considerably eroded over the last seven to eight years. Currently, as much as 40 per cent of the requirement is imported from abroad at an enormous cost to the exchequer.

In the case of pulses, however, the situation is slightly different. It is the admitted position of the Government that the demand-supply gap in pulses is as much as three m.t. But the level of actual imports is far less.

Annual imports had averaged seven to eight l.t. until recently. In 1997-98, the country imported the highest quantity of 10 l.t.; but in the subsequent two years, the volume sharply declined to about three l.t., which is less than three per cent of the d omestic output.

Going by these volumes, imports could not have had any catastrophic impact on domestic production. But the fact remains that policy support for higher pulses production is lacking. Sadly, the benefit of cheaper imports seldom reaches the consumer as the domestic distribution chain in the pulses business is inordinately long. It does no value-addition, but merely adds to the cost.

An important question that must engage the policy makers is whether price incentives alone will lead to higher production. Experience shows that it would, but only in the short run. After a period of time, the farmers start expecting the Government-induc ed high prices as a matter of right.

The soyabean experience is noteworthy. In the last 10 years or so, soyabean growers had received prices of anything between 10 and 30 per cent above the minimum support price. This led to area expansion, but not yield increase. Farmers in our country are subjected to the vagaries of too many factors including rains, input supplies, marketing and the Government policies. Obviously, they have no control over production.

We need to address the structural issues that stymie growth in pulses and oilseeds. How can an Indian farmer who produces only 900 kg of soyabean from one hectare of land compete with an American farmer who produces 2,300 kg from the same unit of land. W e are fighting an unequal battle. We need to equip ourselves to withstand competition.

Our agriculture will continue to be pressured if we do not improve the terms of trade for agriculture, not by merely giving higher and higher prices year-after-year, but by creating all the conditions necessary to make agriculture globally competitive.