WINNIPEG (MarketsFarm) — The window of opportunity for Canadian pulses to be exported to India may be rapidly closing, according to a recent announcement from India’s agriculture minister.
At a World Pulses Day event held Feb. 10, Narendra Singh Tomar said the country is on track to self-sufficiency. Last year, the country consumed about 27 million tonnes of pulses. Of that, about 85 percent was produced domestically. The rest was filled using imports.
Production levels will have to be boosted to bridge that gap in the years to come. India’s government is forecasting pulse outputs to total 26.3 million tonnes in the upcoming growing year.
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“We faced huge shortages of pulses earlier, but that situation has improved,” said Tomar.
That will be largely contingent on monsoon patterns, which are key to the growing season.
Cindy Brown, president of the Global Pulse Confederation, said climate change and shifting weather patterns will pose a significant challenge to India’s plans.
During the first nine months of 2019, Canada exported slightly more than 545,000 tonnes of lentils to India, despite hefty import tariffs put in place by the Indian government. Those Canadian imports were largely due to unpredictable unseasonal monsoon rains that brought turmoil to India’s growing season.
