Miller Magazine Issue: 128 August 2020

56 COVER STORY MILLER / August 2020 Therefore, to insulate the country from future shocks (such as the one faced in 2015-2016) India should continue to stay in the global value chain, and not shut itself out completely. This means there is scope for easing of restric- tions on pulses import. Currently, India is in the midst of 2020-21 Kharif planting season. The normal planted area for pulses this season is 12 million hectares. As of July 17, it is estimated that 8.2 million hectares have been planted showing a one-third in- crease from 6.2 million hectares planted this time last year. Timely onset of southwest monsoon and satisfactory prog- ress so far has encouraged growers to start planting early. Estimate of season’s final acreage for pulses will be avail- able by end-July. Although it is a little early to estimate the crop size, an informed guess is that it would be around 8.0 million tons - plus or minus 5 percent, not much changed from last two years. Recently, the government announced a series of agri-mar- keting reforms which are expected to enhance marketing freedom for growers. Private markets have been allowed to operate. In addition to the traditional State-controlled marketing yards, growers will now have a choice of going to private markets too. . Additionally, a legal framework for contract farming has been announced. This is expected to encourage corporate houses, processors, aggregators, exporters and the like to enter into contract farming agreement with groups of grow- ers. While the growers will enjoy a captive market, the sponsors (processors etc) will be have easy raw material sourcing – a win-win for all. Importantly, in the agriculture sector, about $ 14 Billion is proposed to be invest- ed in post-harvest mar- keting infrastructure over a four year period. It will cover construc- tion of warehouses, si- los, grading and sorting facilities, cold chains and similar projects. Corporate India has welcomed these re- forms as they are going to advance the ‘Ease of Doing Business’. In- vestments are expected to flow into setting up of private markets, infrastructure development, strengthen- ing of post-harvest logistics and supply chain. Following the reforms, there is significant domestic and overseas investor interest in Indian agribusiness and food processing sector. As for pulses, there are value-addition opportunities to produce pulse-based foods and snacks tar- geted at school children, women, senior citizens, sportsper- sons and the like. So, India is a not only a developing country, but the In- dian story is a rapidly unfolding story. Rising incomes and large population combine to drive food consumption up. Pulses have a special place in the food plate of any average Indian as it is a basic ingredient of diet for a vast majority of the population and provides a perfect mix of biological value when mixed with cereals. We eat dal-roti (pulses with wheat bread) or dal-chawal (pulses with rice). Indian pulse processing mills, called dal mills, are also an area of investment interest, domestic and overseas. For in- vestors India can be a perfect hub for producing milled puls- es or value-added pulses for marketing within the country or for export. (G. Chandrashekhar, Economist, Senior Editor and Poli- cy Commentator, is a global agribusiness and commodities market specialist. Views are personal. He can be reached at gchandrashekhar@gmail.com)