CACP revises price of pulses; proposes up to Rs 900 per quintal jump

NEW DELHI: The Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices ( CACP) has lowered its suggested support price for moong and tur by up to Rs 150 to Rs 4,400 a quintal and Rs 3,850/quintal, respectively, for this year.

The prices recommended for the two pulses are lower by Rs 100-150 per quintal from its earlier proposal for the 2012-13 crop year (July-June), but higher by up to Rs 900 a quintal than the price that prevailed last year.

For the 2011-12 crop year, the government had fixed MSP of moong (green gram) at Rs 3,500 a quintal and tur (pigeon pea) at Rs 3,200 a quintal.

According to sources, the CACP has reworked on the MSP of moong and tur as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in the last month had defferred the decision and directed the Agriculture Ministry to redo the calculations.

In its revised recommendations, the CACP has lowered the support price by Rs 100-150 a quintal from its earlier proposal. Earlier, the CACP had recommended the MSP of moong at Rs 4,500/quintal and tur at Rs 4,000/quintal for 2012-13, they said.

The CACP advises the government on farm pricing policy. As pulses being short in supply, the CCEA had asked to rework the MSP of moong and tur on lower side to keep retail prices under control.

India imports pulses to meet the domestic production shortfall of 3-4 million tonne. Pulses output stagnated at around 15 million tonne for some time, but crossed 17 million tonne in the last two years, due to hike in support price.