Ludhiana, July 27
Danish Joshi, a teacher in a local school, Young Blossoms, did not buy arhar or moong this time. “I think we can make do with gram (kala chana) for Rs 40 per kg instead,” he declared.
“With arhar at Rs 85 and moong at Rs 60 per kg, my monthly earnings of Rs 6,000 for a family of six do not allow me the luxury of variety or nutrition in our food. A number of my colleagues share a similar dilemma.”
Economists at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and shopkeepers don’t expect prices of dal to fall in the short run. Prices of moong(dhuli) are now Rs 65 a kg; arhar is selling at Rs 85; moong (sabat) hovers between Rs 58-60 and gram around Rs 40-42.
Dr MS Sidhu of the PAU puts the situation in perspective. “Our population has increased from 36 crore in 1951 to approximately 118 crore today. But during this period, per capita consumption of dal has fallen from 60 gm to 32 gm.”
The annual production of pulses has not increased in proportion to the population and the highest production of dal has been in the region of 14 to 15 million tonnes, though the demand is much higher. “We need 18 million tonnes to meet the market demand,” says Dr Sidhu.
As many as 85 per cent of the crop comes from rain-fed areas of the country. Farmers, unlike in the case of wheat and paddy etc, are not sure about returns or yields, and so are less enthusiastic about growing pulses. Internationally, recalled Dr Sidhu, approximately 55 million tonnes of dal are sold every year. India is actually forced to import two to three million tonnes every year. “Scarcity causes hoarding and natural price fluctuations,” he said, while admitting that the country needed to produce new varieties with higher yield to meet our future requirements.
Another economist, Dr Amarjeet Bhullar said, “Soaring prices are not really surprising in the absence of normal rains. Dal production in affected rain-fed areas will naturally drop. A government commission should maintain a data chart on demand and supply of the requirement. Certain stocks need to be maintained to ensure supply in case of an emergency.”
Dr Jagrup Singh Sidhu, another expert, reflected, ‘it is more difficult to produce protein-rich food grains. Countries with big open spaces such as the US, Brazil and Australia, among others, need to be prompted into producing dal and pulses to meet international demands.
He added, “It is not difficult to grow dal, but the economics of production and the yield work as big deterrents. Crops with higher protein contents usually have lesser yield. There are also lesser weedicides and insecticides for these crops in the market. The thrashing, too, involves painstaking manual work as there are very few mechanised implements available."
