India’s lentil production has tapered since 2017-18 when the country recorded its highest output of 1.62 million tonne. According to official data, in the 2022-23 crop year, the country’s lentil production stood at 1.56 million tonne,
India is set to become the world’s largest producer of lentil (masoor) during the 2023-24 crop year on account of higher acreage, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar said Friday. This is significant for India which, despite being among the world’s top five lentil growers, second only to Canada, depends on imports to meet its domestic demands.
“I was looking at the lentil numbers, masoor production numbers, and this year, the numbers are going to be at an all-time high. And I was told by experts yesterday that our lentil production may probably be the highest in the world as a country this year,” Singh said during a roadshow ahead of the Global Pulse Conference (GPC), being held in February in New Delhi.
India’s lentil production has tapered since 2017-18 when the country recorded its highest output of 1.62 million tonne. According to official data, in the 2022-23 crop year, the country’s lentil production stood at 1.56 million tonne,
With the government incentivising farmers to grow more pulses, the country has reported a higher area under lentil crop during the current year. Data from the Agriculture Ministry show 19.45 lakh hectares under lentil till January 12, 2024. This is 1.06 lakh hectare (or about 6%) higher from last year’s area of 18.39 lakh hectare, and 37% higher than the normal area (14.37 lakh hectare) under lentil.
Speaking during the roadshow, NAFED managing director Ritesh Chauhan said India was now on “the path to self-sufficiency”.
“As the Home Minister (Amit Shah) has said… if a farmer grows pulses he will have a full fertiliser factory in his field due to inherent benefits of the crop and we firmly believe in the same,” he said.
Speaking at an event on January 4, Home Minister Shah, who’s also the Union Minister for Cooperation, said India needed to be self-reliant in arhar, urad and lentils. He said the NDA government had increased the MSP of lentils to Rs 6,425 per quintal for the Rabi Marketing Season 2024-25 from the Rs 2,950 per quintal in 2014-15.
According to the data available with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world top lentil growers in 2022 were Canada (2.3 million tonnes), India (1.26 million tonnes), Australia (0.99 million tonnes), Turkey (0.44 million tonnes), and Russia (0.26 million tonnes) during 2022.
Despite being the second largest producer of lentil, India has so far been relying on imports to meet its domestic requirements, buying mainly from Australia, Canada, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey. During the current year, it also imported some quantities of lentil from UAE, USA, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
During the April-October period of the current financial year (2023-24), India imported 9.46 lakh tonne of lentils, 159% higher than the 3.65 lakh tonne imported in the same period last year.
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