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Centre mindful of corporate interests in pulses deal with Myanmar

According to sources in the Agriculture Ministry, Myanmar is growing tur (arhar) and urad in abundance and since it has no domestic consumption, the pulses are being largely lifted by Indian corporates.

The government plans to support Myanmar by providing technological support to double its pulse production. However, Naypyidaw wants technology transfer only if Indian government agrees to G2G arrangement to procure pulses. New Delhi, however, is keen on an arrangement to lift the produce as per minimum support price (MSP).

This idea is being mooted, according to ministry sources, at the behest of corporate biggies, which are active in the country over the years. Corporate giants such as Adani, Reliance, Tata, Mahindra, Edelweiss, etc have a very active presence in the country and have agreements with farmers to buy all their produce.

“Given that Myanmar is producing moong in a major portion of its land, which is not in much demand in India, New Delhi wants its neighbour to grow tur and urad to meet the increasing demand back home. The Myanmar government has also agreed to grow pulses for India, but both the countries have to enter into G2G agreement. Unless India lifts the produce of Myanmar farmers; they would suffer major losses,” the source said.

“A report has also been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning Myanmar as ‘possible’ destination from where pulses can be procured for Indian consumption as the pulses grown there matches the quality and taste of India. While the pulses of Mozambique are inferior in quality in comparison to Myanmar,” a source said.Notably, India has inked an agreement to buy pulses from Mozambique to meet its shortfall and check prices of this commodity.

“Once the technology transfer deal happens, Myanmar will be able to produce about 9 million tonne of pulses, which is 4 million tonne more than it’s existing production. It would help in meeting the domestic need of pulses, ultimately offloading the price burden from consumers, who are having to shell out over Rs 200 for a kg of tur dal,” said a source, who was the part of a team that visited both Myanmar and Mozambique recently.

 “Myanmar that receives an annual average rainfall of 3,000 mm with even distribution and temperature that ranges between 22 degrees to 33 degrees is very conducive for pulse cultivation. The country has around 66 million hectare of cultivable land for pulses,” the source said, adding that logistically also, Myanmar would be a more logical destination than other pulse growing nations as it has port connectivity.

Per capita production of pulses in India has declined from 18.5 kg during 1965-1970 to about 15 kg during 2011-2014. It plunged to the lowest level of 10.5 kg in 2002-03. Even with imports, India has not able to meet it’s domestic demand. The net per capita availability of pulses in the country, after factoring in imports and exports, has declined from 18.15 kg during 1965-70 to 15.4 kg during 2011-14.
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