TDB: India was once the leader in lentils production but now Canada has taken over. How do you see it?

Pradeep Ghorpade (PG): The primary reason for this is the absence of pulses in our Public Distribution System (PDS) and also their exclusion from the Food Security Act (FSA). Currently, most pulses in India are trading either at minimum support price (MSP) or slightly above the MSP. This has led to farmers exploring the option of moving to other crops like paddy, wheat, cotton, soybean etc. Other factors that have affected production of lentils include low yield, fragmented land holding, lack of modern technology and poor seed quality. All this has affected lentil production.

TDB: What steps should the government take to ensure that our dependence on imports is minimised?

PG: The main step that the government should take to reduce our dependence on imports is include lentils in our PDS and bring it under the FSA. This will provide a huge incentive to our farmers to cultivate lentils and other pulses. The inclusion in PDS and FSA will ensure that the produce is procured by the government at appropriate rates and that trading levels stay well above the MSP giving good returns to farmers.

TDB: What is the current sowing status of lentils crop across India? Also throw some light on the sowing patterns in Canada and Australia.

PG: Kharif sowing is still in progress and will go on till the first week of August. Hence, it is difficult to say anything at present. As per statistics released by Canada, lentil seeding is on in 3.24 million acres – about 380,000 acres higher than previous year.

TDB: Our domestic yield is well below the world average. What steps should be taken to increase productivity?

PG: As mentioned earlier, we need to encourage farmers to take up lentils cultivation. As things stand today, there is no incentive for a farmer to improve the yield. Inclusion in PDS and FSA will then have to be supported with improved high yield seeds. Apart from that, lentil crop is prone to diseases like rust, wilt and root rot. These biotic stresses have been reportedly reducing the productivity by 20-25%. The other important constraints are lower productivity in rice fallows, terminal stress and low biomass production. The government will also have to support the lentil farmers with low-cost financing. This will help them adopt better agri-techniques and modern machinery to produce better quality and increased quantities of lentils.