New Delhi [India], April 22 : Procurement of chickpea crop from the Rabi season at assured Minimum Support Price (MSP) is currently underway and its stocks this year are expected to rise to a new high, according to a report published by Global Pulse Confederation.
Chickpea or as they are called chana in India is a rabi crop, which is mostly sown during October and November and the produce is harvested from January to March depending on maturity.
Government agency National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) has so far procured over one million tonnes of chickpeas, the report contributed to GPC by agricultural market expert and AgPulse Analytica's Gaurav Jain said citing the latest available data.
The NAFED was established in 1958 to act as an agent of any government agency or cooperative institution, for the purchase, sale, storage and distribution of agricultural produce.
The GPC report said the procurement drive started with a carryover inventory from last year of about 1.4 million tonnes, taking the overall stock position close to 2.5 million tonnes. Last year, the government agency procured 2.6 million tonnes of chickpeas from farmers.
In Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, two major growers, farmers have sold about 5,00,000 tonnes and 211,000 tonnes of chana, respectively.
Chickpea is one such pulse where large-scale procurement at MSP takes place, benefiting lakhs of farmers.
At present, the MSP for chana is Rs 5,335 per 100 kg.
Going ahead, chana inventories are expected to be between 3.5-4 million tonnes (including the carryover inventory), the report said, stressing that NAFED is likely to keep the selling pressure on in the domestic pulses market
NAFED offloading chana stocks in the markets will push its prices lower and discourage private traders from stocking large inventories, Jain argued in the report.
Citing previous years' example when NAFED procurement and stocks were high - the report said chana prices remained subdued for the rest of the year and predicted that 2023 is unlikely to be an exception. The early trend is visible as chana prices in India have already started declining, though marginally.
India is a large consumer and grower of pulses and it meets a small portion of its consumption needs through imports. India primarily consumes chana, Masur, urad, Kabuli chana, and tur.
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