New Delhi [India], June 22 (ANI): Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Central Government is committed to procure tur, Urad and Masur at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to ensure crop diversification and achieve self-sufficiency in pulse production.
Chairing a virtual meeting with Agriculture Ministers of various states at Krishi Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that e-Samriddhi portal has been started through National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India Limited (NCCF) for the registration of farmers and the government is committed to procure these pulses at MSP from the farmers registered on the portal, as per a Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare press release.
He urged the state governments to encourage more and more farmers to register on this portal so that they can avail the facility of assured purchase.
Union Minister Chouhan said that the country is not self-sufficient in the production of these three crops and the target is to achieve self-sufficiency by 2027.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan appreciated the efforts of the states to increase the production of pulses by 50 per cent from 2015-16 but called for more efforts to increase the yield per hectare and motivate farmers to cultivate pulses.
He appreciated the fact that the country has achieved self-sufficiency in moong and chana and mentioned that the country has reduced dependence on imports from 30 per cent to 10 per cent during the last 10 years, the release stated.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged the states to work together with the Centre so that India not only becomes self-sufficient in food grain production but also becomes the food basket of the world.
He informed about the new Aadarsh Pulses Village Scheme being launched from the current Kharif season. The Minister requested that the State Governments to utilize the fallow land available for pulses after rice harvesting. Shivraj Singh Chouhan also asked the State Governments to vigorously adopt inter-cropping of tur.
He said that the state governments should share their best practices with each other and visits should be made for this. He said that elected representatives like MPs, MLAs should actively engage in KVKs, as per the release.
Union Minister Chouhan spoke about the need for crop diversification towards cash crops and the need to restore soil fertility. He stressed the need for timely and quality inputs, such as good-quality seeds to farmers to increase productivity and assured maximum assistance in this regard.
He informed that for the availability of good quality seeds, the Government of India has opened 150 Pulses Seed Hubs and Cluster Front Line Demonstrations (CFLDs) are being given by ICAR in low productivity districts.
He highlighted the need to develop climate-resilient varieties and short-duration varieties to combat the effects of climate change. He urged the State Governments to strengthen their seed distribution systems by strengthening the State Seed Corporations.
The meeting was convened in view of the need for immediate attention to increase the production of pulses in the country and reduce imports.
Agriculture ministers of major pulse-producing States like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, and Telangana were present at the meeting. (ANI)
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