“The open-ended procurement of rice and wheat at minimum support prices acts as a disincentive for diversification towards high-value and riskier crops,” it said in a report submitted to the Aayog on Thursday.
“It is, therefore, important to re-think about the policy of open-ended procurement, and restrict the procurement of rice and wheat to the requirements of the country’s food security and welfare schemes,” it said, suggesting that farmers be compensated through price deficiency schemes for the additional market surplus. “If they diversify away from rice and wheat, they can be compensated for the revenue foregone from these, if any.”
The 23-member working group on crop husbandry, agriculture inputs, demand and supply, set up by the Aayog in 2022 under PS Birthal, director, ICAR-NIAP, was tasked to study and analyse the trends in demand and supply of major food commodities and examine the changing consumer preferences for food and related items by 2047 and make suitable recommendations.
The other recommendations of the working group included evolving economically feasible cropping patterns suited to the resource endowments to meet the disproportionate increase in the demand for fruits, vegetables, pulses, edible oils, nutri-cereals and maize compared to rice and wheat,
Besides, it suggested aggressive investment in infrastructure required for perishable commodities to avoid post-harvest losses and reduce high price volatility through private investment. “Promote millet consumption and production, reduce consumption of edible oils which is more than its recommended intake and may adversely affect human health and enhance pulses production,” it said. According to the report, pulses will remain one of the key components of the Indian diet, even as production remains lower than the demand. “There is a need for a technological breakthrough in pulses, and for exploring possibilities of their cultivation in rice-fallow areas,” it said.
The working group said that with the sustained rise in per capita income, changing lifestyles and increasing consumer preferences for nutritious foods, the consumption basket will continue to diversify away from staple cereals towards high-value food commodities.
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