New norms to benefit procurement of pulses

Ludhiana, October 12

Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)-Central Institute of Post-harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Dr RK Singh, Director, ICAR-CIPHET, on behalf of ICAR and Abhay Kumar Singh, Director, Price Monitoring Cell, on behalf of Department of Consumer Affairs signed the MoU.

Dr RK Singh said, “This MoU is related to development of protocols for shelf life, safe storage, milling outrun and indicative norms for procurement of major pulses. An amount of about Rs 2.4 crore is approved under the project and ten major partner institutes will be involved with ICAR-CIPHET as the lead centre.”

The annual import of pulses has incresed due to increase in domestic demand. India imports about 4-5 million tonnes of pulses every year. A recent breakthrough in production was achieved due to enhanced government support to farmers, improved varieties and favourable weather conditions. —TNS