NEW DELHI ( Commoditiescontrol) - Arrival and procurement figures have raised scepticism about the government production estimate of tur for crop year 2016-17.
The Centre had earlier pegged 2016-17 tur production at 48.7 lakh tonnes as compared to 25.6 lakh tonnes in 2015-16. The rise in production was mainly attributed to the higher acreage. For 2016-17, area sown to tur had increased to 147.47 lakh hectares as against normal acreage of 105.58 lakh hectares.
A good crop of one hectare gives about 25-30 quintals of tur.
As per government AgMarknet portal, 20.68 lakh tonnes of produce had arrived at different marketplaces/mandis across the country from November 2016 to October 2017. While around 18 lakh tonnes of pulse procured by various state agencies, primarily by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).
The above mentioned procurement figure also includes selective procurement by states.
After combining the procurement and arrival figures there is still a gap of around 10 lakh tonnes of pulse.
On this gap, a veteran market expert said that the quantity apart from procurement and arrival is mainly divided into four components. First, certain portion was with farmers mainly for seeding purpose. Secondly, mandis had not disclosed some figures for evading tax net.
Thirdly, millers had procured some quantities directly from farmers apart from post harvesting losses.
However, APMC office bearers, rule out the tax evasion theory and said the government portal reflects all those quantities arrived at the registered mandis.
Moreover, a senior government official said, "If we keep aside maximum 2.5 lakh tonnes for seeding and other purposes (About 10-15 kg high quality seed is sufficient for one hectare area) and maximum 2 lakh tonnes for ----- post harvest losses, produce failed to arrive at mandis ------- whatever the reason may be, should be not more than the 5-6 lakh tonnes."
In that circumstance too, a gap of about 5 lakh tonnes of produce still remains.
Endorsing the senior government official's point of view, another expert opines that the maximum production figures should have been around 42-43 lakh tonnes, nearly 5 lakh tonnes less than the government's final production estimate for 2016-17.
Meanwhile, tur production for 2017-18 is estimated at 40.2 lakh tonnes, down 17.45 percent from 2016-17 due to decrease in acreage, according to the government’s latest estimates.
As per Agriculture Ministry second advance estimates, total Pulses production during 2017-18 is pegged at record 23.95 million tonnes which is higher by 0.82 million tonnes or 3.50 percent than the previous year’s production of 23.13 million tonnes. Moreover, the production of pulses during 2017-18 is higher than the Five years' average production by 5.10 million tonnes.
For the first time, the government had in 2016 decided to create a buffer stock of pulses to ensure better prices to farmers and at the same time use the stock to augment local supply in times of price rise.
About 20 lakh tonnes of buffer were created through local procurement and imports.
The Centre, was aiming to dispose of up to 5 lakh tonnes of lentils by March 2018. In the next fiscal, another 8 lakh tonnes of pulses will be disposed of from the buffer stock.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91 9582843581)
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