Pulses

Pulses are edible seeds of plants in the legume family and generally grow in pods. The term ‘pulses’ is limited to crops harvested solely as dry grains, which differentiates them from other vegetable crops that are still green while being harvested.

Therefore, the term pulses refers to leguminous crops except:

1. Green beans and green peas are considered vegetables.
2. Oilseeds like Soybeans and peanuts, and
3. Seeds that are exclusively used for forage such as clovers and alfalfa.

Importance of Legumes

• Legume crops increase the natural fertility of soils. Many legumes contain symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobia within root nodules. These bacteria have the ability to break molecular nitrogen and create ammonia using water. This is called Nitrogen fixation. The plants release excess amino acids into the soil increasing soil fertility.

N₂ -> NH₄⁺ -> Amino Acids -> Proteins

When practised with inter-cropping, agriculture becomes highly sustainable.

• Due to nitrogen fixation, pulses are packed with proteins. In fact, these are the only source of protein for most of the Indians.
• Import Substitution and Export Potential: India is a leading producer and it has a large export potential. However, currently, we are import-dependent to fulfil our protein needs through pulses.

Other Advantages of growing pulses:

• Easy to grow: It can easily be produced in dryland and rainfed areas, making it suitable for emerging climatic challenges.
• Diverse usage: Used as both food and forage.
• Easy to store post-harvest – there is a possibility of creation of buffer stock.

Production of Pulses in India

India has always been the most important grower of pulses, due to its dietary habits.

• India’s total Production: 25MT in 2021 which is about 1/5^th of the total production of the world.
• It is largely concentrated in dry lands of Deccan and central plateaus and North-Western parts – 11% of total production. Yields are low and fluctuate being a rainfed crop.

However, in recent times our import dependence has increased as the farmers have shifted towards the production of cereals.

Crop	Conditions	States in India	India’s Position
Gram (Chana) Most important Pulse	Grown in Subtropical areas: It’s a rainfed Crop in India – requires one or two light showers. Cultivated during Rabi in central, western and N-W parts of the country. 100 days crop.	MP, UP, Maharashtra, Andhra and Rajasthan Before the Green Revolution: Punjab and Rajasthan were the largest, which have now shifted to rice and wheat. Yield continues to be low and fluctuates – can be increased with irrigation.	2.8% of the total cropped area
Tur: Arhar, red gram or pigeon pea – 2nd most important	Dry tropical Tur Kharif in the North, Rabi in the South. Marginal lands under rainfed conditions in dry areas of Central and Southern India	Maharashtra contributes 1/3rd. Other states: UP, Karnataka, Gujarat and MP. Per hectare output – yield is very low.	2% of cropped area.
Moong	Warm temperatures (20-30°C) preferred Moderate humidity. Kharif and Rabi seasons are ideal, but Kharif contributes the majority of production.	Diverse Area: Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. The average yield in India varies between 800-1200 kg/ha.
Urad	Prefers warm temperatures (25-30°C) Moderate to high humidity particularly during the flowering and pod development stages. Mainly grown during Monsoon.	Diverse Areas: UP, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and MP. With irrigation: Grown in South India and Gujarat in winters Average yield varies between 700-1000 kg/ha.
Masur	Cool temperature (15-20°C) – Winter Crop Dry conditions, particularly during pod development and maturation stages.	Concentrated in MP, UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Bihar. Yield in India varies between 500-800 kg/ha.
Peas	Cool temperature (15-20°C) – Winter Crop Moderate to high humidity during the vegetative growth.	Major producers: Maharashtra, UP, MP, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Yield varies between 800-1200 kg/ha.

Seasons:

• Rabi crops require a mild cold climate during the sowing period, during vegetative to pod development cold climate and during maturity / harvesting warm climate.
• Kharif pulse crops require a warm climate throughout their life from sowing to harvesting.
• Summer pulses are habitants of warm climates.
• Seed is required to pass many stages to produce seed like germination, seedling, vegetative, flowering, fruit setting, pod development and grain maturity/harvesting.

Concerns:

• Import Dependency: The production of pulses in the country increased from 11 million tonnes in 2002-03 to 3 million tonnes in 2013-14. However, imports also grew in this period, from 0.06 million tonnes in 2000-01 to 5.53 million tonnes in 2015-16.
• Unstable yield in India: The lower productivity of pulses is attributed to
  • A paradigm shift in the area under cultivation of traditional crops to cash crops,
  • The crop is susceptible to pests and diseases
  • Poor crop management practices like low fertilizer use
• Poor innovation in Seed: non-availability of high-yielding and good quality seed to the farmers
• Government Subsidy Regime favours rice, wheat and sugarcane.
  • Storage facilities – Not enough silos for pulses.
  • The procurement infrastructure under APMC Mandis is not adequate.
• Short-term actions: The government allows import when the price is high which negatively affects the Pulses farmers.

Arvind Subramaniam Committee Report

On account of the volatility of the prices of pulses, a committee on “Incentivising Pulses Production through MSP and related policies” was set up under the chairmanship of Dr Arvind Subramanian, CEA which submitted its report in 2016. Conclusion of this report on pulses: Short-term actions that apparently benefit consumers end up hurting them because production and availability of pulses decline over time. Higher MSPs should be given to reflect the true social value of growing pulses compared to other crops, combined with effective procurement offers the best way of increasing domestic availability and preventing price spikes. Pulse shortage in the country is a rare opportunity to show that government intervention, especially procurement, can be effective beyond rice and wheat. Recommendations: Availability of pulses: The domestic production of pulses has to grow at 8% per year to meet the shortfall in availability, as opposed to the current growth of 3%. Price management of pulses: Stock limits and export bans should be lifted in order to prevent a decline in the prices of pulses. State governments should be encouraged to delist pulses from their Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Acts, so that produce may be traded outside of the state-owned mandis. Institutional arrangement for pulses: The government should aim to create a new institutional arrangement for pulses. Such an institution would be owned by the government, public sector institutions and private players, but operated by a board on a day-to-day basis. Along with pulses, the institution would be allowed to engage in buying, stocking, warehousing, and trading operations for other crops including fruits and vegetables.

Government Steps:

• Higher MSP: Currently, the government gives MSP on 5 pulses (chana, arhar, moong, urad and masur). For Arhar it is currently ₹7,000/quintal, for Moong, it is ₹8,682. For all the pulses it has increased by more than 50% compared to 2015-16.
• 2017 had been declared as the National Year of Pulses to signify the increased focus on Pulses.
• Increased Buffer Stock: A buffer stock of 2 million tonnes was sanctioned in 2016, or about 10% of the country’s production. Currently, the buffer stock is at 43.82 Lakh Crore.

Development in Seeds

Subramanian Committee report on pulses, submitted to the ministers of finance, agriculture and consumer affairs, the possibilities created by a new variety of arhar (pigeon pea).

Pusa Arhar16

1. It has a yield greater than existing varieties of Arhar (about 2000 kg/hectare),
   • Why? Because: The size of the pea is uniform, making it amenable to mechanical harvesting, an attractive feature for farmers in northern India who currently use this technology for paddy.
2. Less Pollution: Most important, arhar straw, unlike paddy straw, is green and can be ploughed back into the soil.
   • In paddy straw, the problem is the high silica content, which does not allow for easy decomposition. Farmers, therefore, choose the easiest option of simply burning it.

Can be a game changer in paddy-growing regions of Punjab, Haryana and UP?

FAQs related to Pulses