Centre removes 40% procurement celling to boost production of various pulses in FY24

In a crucial step towards enhancing domestic production of pulses, the government has removed the procurement ceilings of 40 per cent for tur, urad and masur under Price Support Scheme (PSS) operations for 2023- 24. This will allow farmers to sell any amount of their produced Tur, Urad and Masur under PSS this year.

This step taken by the government assures that these pulses will be procured from the farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) without ceilings. The move to give assured procurement of these pulses by the government at remunerative prices will help motivate the farmers to enhance the sowing area with respect to tur, urad and masur in the upcoming Kharif and Rabi sowing seasons, which will help to enhance the production of these crops.

The government had imposed June 2, 2023, as stock limits on tur and urad by invoking the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation and improve consumer affordability.

The stock limits have applied to wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers, millers and importers. It has also been made mandatory for these entities to declare their stock position on the Department of Consumer Affairs portal.

To ensure that the stock limits imposed on tur and urad are followed, the Department of Consumer Affairs has directed the state governments to strictly enforce the limits in their respective states.

As part of this enforcement, the states have also been asked to monitor prices and stocks position by verifying with various warehouse operators. Parallelly, the Department has also requested Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs) to provide the details about tur and urad held in their warehouses.

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