NITI Aayog lays out a blueprint to make India self-sufficient in pulses

NITI Aayog has proposed adoption of a multifaceted strategy focusing on value addition and reducing post-harvest losses in pulses, expanding the area under pulse cultivation and improving productivity to help India reduce pulses import and become self-sufficient.

“Achieving self-sufficiency in pulse production is crucial for India’s food security and soil health,” the Aayog said in its report ‘Strategies and Pathways for Accelerating Growth In Pulses Towards the Goal of Atmanirbharta’, released on Thursday.

The Aayog’s policy roadmap to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses is in line with the government’s intent to come up with the Pulse Mission announced in Budget 2025-26.

The Pulse Mission, which is a six-year government initiative with a Rs 1,000 crore allocation to achieve self-reliance in pulses, aims to boost domestic production, especially of tur, urad, and masoor, by ensuring minimum support prices (MSP) for farmers, providing post-harvest storage solutions, and promoting climate-resilient seeds.

According to the Aayog’s report, by implementing these strategies effectively, India can significantly boost domestic pulse production, potentially increasing total pulse production by 20.10 MT.

“This substantial increase can not only have the potential to mitigate the current import dependency of 4.739 MT but also address the projected demand gap of 15.74 MT by 2030 (i.e., the most demanding scenario) and establish India as a self-sufficient nation in the pulse sector,” it said.

In 2024-25, pulses import stood at a record high of over 6.5 MT.

As part of the policy roadmap, the Aayog has proposed retention of area under pulses cultivation while also diversification of production to one-third of the total rice fallow area across ten states. “It can significantly enhance domestic production with estimates suggesting a potential increase of up to 2.85 MT in pulse output,” it said.

Further, it has proposed using high quality seeds, strengthening farmer producer organisations (FPOs), price support and market interventions and integrating pulses into the public distribution system.

The Aayog, through the report, made a case for the role of pulses in achieving zero hunger. “Keeping in view the widespread under-and malnutrition among women and children in India, to achieve the target of zero hunger and good health and well being prescribed in sustainable development goals (SDG), it is necessary to provide pulses to all the poor households at affordable prices,” it added.