India has struck a trade arrangement with the African nation Mozambique regarding the import of pulses from the country. The government of India has given assurance of guaranteed purchase of pulses over the next five years. Such a decision has been taken owing to the dearth of domestic supply triggered by erratic weather condition. 1 lakh tonnes of pulses will be imported this year, which will go up to 2 lakh tonnes by 2020-21. This is a government-to-government deal and also among private traders.
The figures of pulses consumption and production India consumes about 63,500 tonnes of all varieties of pulses every day. That makes the estimated annual consumption to 2.3 crore tonnes. However, the production has fallen steeply in the last two year. During 2014-15, it was 17.06 million tonnes, and last year it was 17.15 million tonnes. Whereas, in 2013-14, the production was 19 million tonnes. This year it is expected to produce 20 million tonnes of pulses as speculated for a good amount of rainfall. The annual demand is 23 million tonnes.
Two sides of the coin
One, The Logical Indian appreciates Mr Modi’s outreach to Africa in a bid to boost trade, an area where china has an advantage in Africa. We totally support Indian government’s effort improve tied with foreign countries for the purpose trade and geo-politics. On the other hand, the question arises as to when our own agriculture sector has seen the lack of investments, shortage of production, widening supply-demand gap , rising prices and not to mention farmer suicides, the dots do not connect. The Indian government will be providing technical assistance, equipment, and seeds to the farmers of Mozambique. We should take a leaf out of United States government where agriculture is hugely subsidized and vibrant despite United states being a knowledge and innovation-based economy. We appeal to the government to prioritize our own farmers, crops, and agriculture that feeds more than a billion population even as we try to usurp China in Africa.
