New Delhi: The government is promoting cultivation of pulses (especially tur and urad) in Naxal-affected districts and tribal areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The government's initiative is aimed at increasing the national production of pulses as well as increasing the income of farmers.

This is a kind of pilot project and if it is successful, it will be expanded across the country. This initiative of the government can reduce India's dependence on the import of pulses. The National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India Limited (NCCF), which is handling the operation of the project, has identified four districts in Jharkhand and five in Chhattisgarh.

These districts have been included

NCCF Managing Director Anis Joseph Chandra said, "We are promoting tur and urad production this Kharif season in selected Naxal-affected and tribal areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The targeted districts include Rajnandgaon, Jaspur, Bastar and Mohla Manpur in Chhattisgarh and Palamu, Katihar, Dumka and Garwa in Jharkhand. Hybrid seeds have been distributed for the current Kharif season."

He said farmers are being encouraged to pre-register on NCCF's e-Sanyukt portal to sell their produce to the cooperative society. For farmers who are not so tech savvy, offline applications are available. NCCF will procure pulses at minimum support price (MSP), but if the market price is higher than the MSP, farmers can sell to private traders.

Income will improve, imports will also decrease

"The assured procurement will encourage farmers to expand cultivation and improve their incomes, while helping reduce India's pulse imports. NCCF, which procures pulses for government stocks, hopes to achieve half of its target through this initiative," Chandra said.

More than 17 lakh oil palm trees were planted

Under the campaign run under the National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm, more than 17 lakh oil palm plants have been planted in an area of ​​more than 12,000 hectares in various states. The campaign, launched on July 15, shows the collective efforts of various state governments and palm oil processing companies towards increasing oil palm cultivation in the country.

The campaign, which will run till September 15, 2024, has seen enthusiastic participation from several states including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. The National Mission for Edible Oils-Oil Palm, launched by the Central Government in August 2021, aims to expand oil palm cultivation and boost crude palm oil production.

India is the second largest consumer

India is the world's second-largest consumer and number one vegetable oil importer and meets nearly 60 per cent of its needs through imports. A large portion of this is palm oil and its derivatives, which are imported from Indonesia and Malaysia.