Aggression in procurement by government agencies is required along with increase in support prices

- Farmers are reluctant to diversify their crops without guaranteeing high returns

For the current kharif season, the Center has announced an increase in support prices for 12 crops. The highest increase in support prices for major kharif crops was in pulses and oilseeds. One of the reasons behind this is that farmers are increasingly turning to pulses and oilseeds. The government wants farmers to shift from wheat and pulses to pulses and oilseeds. This experiment has been going on for the last few years and the result has been that the production of pulses and oilseeds has increased but not at the expense of rice and wheat. Looking at the figures for the 2016-17 crop year (July-June) to 2020-21, it appears that the support price of paddy has increased by more than 3 per cent during this period, while its area under cultivation has declined by only 2.50 per cent during this period. The support price of wheat has also gone up by 5 per cent in the last three years, while its acreage has gone up by 10 per cent during the period. In contrast, the support price of chickpeas has been increased by 20 per cent and its area under cultivation has also increased by 3 per cent. While soybean support prices have risen by more than 50 per cent, its acreage has grown by only 10 per cent.

Although the sowing of pulses and oilseeds has increased due to high support prices, farmers have not diminished their attachment to wheat and rice. The strategy of encouraging farmers to grow more pulses and oilseeds, which have to meet the demand of the country through imports, can be said to be appropriate. It plays a major role. The water requirement varies for each crop depending on the type of soil. Rice requires more rainfall while pulses like tur and urad require less water. Farmers in areas where the soil is favorable for pulses and oilseeds may be attracted to grow more pulses, but they will not accept rice or wheat soon, even if the support price has increased significantly. Similarly, farmers will not be tempted to sow pulses in weather favorable for wheat and rice crops.

In the last few years, India's pulses production has gone up from 1.50 to 12 million tonnes, but now it has risen to 3.50 to 25 million tonnes. The reason behind this is the increase in support prices from farmers. Return and duration are also important aspects in sowing crops. Farmers also prefer low yielding crops with high returns, of course considering the weather conditions.

According to a recent report, in the current oil year from November 2020 to October 2021, the country's edible oil import bill is expected to increase by 3 per cent to Rs 1.5 lakh crore over last year. Last year, India imported edible oil worth Rs 2,000 crore. The total import of edible oil, including palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil, is expected to be 1.81 crore tonnes in the current year. India's edible oil does not meet demand and is dependent on imports. The Center has set a target of increasing the area under oilseeds by 2.5 lakh hectares for the current kharif season as part of increasing edible oil production in the country. Oilseeds were sown on an area of ​​2.08 crore hectares last kharif season. The government is also trying to bring down the country's pulses import bill. Despite providing free foodgrains to the poor amid the Corona epidemic, government godowns have accumulated huge quantities of wheat and rice today. Even in such a situation, the government wants the supply of wheat and rice in the country not to increase and farmers are making efforts to diversify their crops. It has proved to be a difficult task for the government to store and distribute foodgrains lying in government warehouses for a long time. Crop diversification is a policy in the right direction but looking at the history so far, it has been found that oversupply of support prices is done on rice and wheat. If farmers really want to turn to different crops, the government will also have to diversify procurement at support prices so that farmers do not lose their hard work and are assured of a decent return on their labor. The period from 2010 to 2020 has seen huge fluctuations in the country's agricultural exports. In the early years of the decade, from 2010-11 to 2016-17, the value of agricultural exports rose from ૨૪ 2.50 billion to ટા 2.10 billion, reaching an all-time high. However, in 2016-17, it fell to 2.50 billion. The next five years saw huge fluctuations in exports. In 2016-17, the export figure was ડો 3 billion, which was significantly lower than the all-time high.

The main reason for the sharp rise in export figures is India's uncertain agricultural export policy. Exports are used to alleviate any crisis in the homes of agricultural people, resulting in confusion for farmers to harvest.