Pulse production down, imports up

Less pulse production has prompted the country to depend more on import leading to spending huge foreign currency intensifying pressure on the economy in the recent years.

The country has produced 8.383 lakh tonnes of pulse in the FY22 which is 2 lakh tonnes less than the target set by the government. The government set the target at 10.209 lakh tonnes for the FY22.

On the other hand, the country has imported 13.495 lakh tonnes of pulse in the same fiscal. The country produced more than the import volume just four years ago. The country produced 10.386 lakh tonnes of pulse against the import of 7.299 lakh tonnes in the FY18.

In four years, import has surpassed the production amount. After four years in FY22, pulse production has come down by 2 lakh tonnes while import has increased by 6.196 lakh tonnes or 85 per cent. Due to increased import the country has to spend more foreign currency to meet the demand of consumers for pulse.

In the FY18 the country imported pulse worth TK2651.92 crore which increased to Tk7342.38 in the FY22. Import expenditure increased by 176.87 per cent or TK4690.46 crore in four years. Talking to The Business Post, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) DG Md Benojir Alam said pulse production is gradually decreasing as farmers are not interested because of growing cost especially during harvesting.

“We are working to train farmers to reduce pulse cultivation cost to increase production,” he said.

Now cultivation of mustard is high because farmers have to spend less on it and get more money as its price is high and the cultivation time for both mustard and pulse is the same. That is why farmers are choosing mustard instead of pulse, he said.

Pulse import is dwindling foreign currency

Production of all varieties of pulses - lentil, mug, kheshari and chickpeas – has dropped in recent years. For this reason, import has increased a lot to meet the demand of consumers.

Increased import is also eating away huge foreign currency.

Lentil production decreased to 2.07 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of 2.38 lakh tonnes in the FY18 while import increased to 5,44,803 tonnes in the FY22 from that of 2,28,524 tonnes in the FY18.

In four years, lentil import has doubled while import expenditure has gone up three times higher.

Mug production reduced to 2.83 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of 2.889 lakh tonnes in the FY18. On the other hand, mug import increased to 2.29 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of around 0.72 lakh tonnes in the FY18.

Mug import has increased by 218 per cent. Import expenditure has increased by 197 percent in four years.

In the FY22, the country has spent Tk1, 303 crore which was Tk438 crore in the FY18. Chickpeas production came down to 0.04 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of 0.07 lakh tonnes in the FY18.

On the other hand, chickpeas import has increased to 4.30 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of 3.85 lakh tonnes in the FY18. Import has increased by 11.68 percent. The country had to spend Tk1, 636 crore in the FY22 from that of Tk949 crore in the FY18. Expenditure has increased by 72 per cent in four years.

Kheshari production too has dropped to 2.63 lakh tonnes in the FY22 from that of 3.53 lakh tonnes in the FY18. Production has increased by 25.50 per cent in four years.

Talking to The Business Post, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Distinguished Fellow Mustafizur Rahman said, “There is a lot of opportunity for agricultural extension in the county helping to save the foreign currency by reducing import and earning dollar through export.”

The country has to pay attention to get high-yielding seeds for more production,” he added. If the country ensures them farmers will be able to increase pulse production that will ultimately help the macro-economic ground, he said.

“The cultivation of any crop saves our forex reserve,” he observed.