Price Stabilization Funds are made sure to be available promptly so that, they don’t have to sell their products for prices below MSP.
On Thursday, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that the futures market could be beneficial for farmers. It will help them get higher price realisations and can also be a hedge against price volatility since prices of major pulses often crash below the government fixed MSP.
This will be initiated, so that farmers can have a greater share in the market, just like millers, wholesalers and retailers. After the Social Stock Exchange, this will be another government project where those outside the market can enter and raise funds.
The policy advocacy to increase and strengthen pulse value chains with many other agricultural commodities cannot be limited in boosting productivity alone. The focus should be on strengthening market access for the farmers.
He said that government procurement options under the Price Support Scheme (PSS) and Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) are increasingly made available. That is being done promptly so that farmers will not be forced to sell their produce below MSP.
But before all of these policies bring in their results storage and warehouse facilities must be strengthened. Also, the Farmer Producer Organisations and pulses value chains must be promoted so that the market gives high returns for the farmer.
That is necessary for farmers facing challenges from fertilizer shortage to climate change. These will cause serious fluctuations in harvest and prices, causing distress for the farmers.
It is also necessary for the government to help this sector, in the light of promises given after the farmers’ protest and also to help the only major sector that grew during the pandemic.
The growth in agriculture is evident in the numbers themselves.
For example, pulse production hit a record of 25.7 million tonnes in 2020-21, compared to 8.4 million tonnes in 1950-51. That shows that through a technological breakthrough in pulses, one can achieve wonders in this sector.
Pulses are an untapped resource in the agricultural sector. The Green Revolution might have boosted productivity in wheat, rice and maize, but a similar breakthrough in pulses has not been achieved to date.
For the creation of a sustainable ecosystem under the prevailing circumstances, it is important to ensure that the goals of productivity gains must be integrated profitability to the farmers.
The cost of production is bound to increase for farmers because of the increasing importance of technology and high-yielding climate-resilient seeds.
To sustain pulse farming, either quantity or quality of products should be allowed for the farmers to recover their cost of production and make them reasonable profits.
There are also demands to modernise dal mills, so that this sector attracts foreign direct investment. There are also demands for pulse distribution through the Public Distribution System like rice and wheat.
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