To ensure food price stability and strengthen food security, the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 has intensified efforts to increase the production of pulses and oilseeds in Uttar Pradesh.
Given their sensitivity to price fluctuations and high demand across India, even a slight increase in demand can significantly impact international markets and lead to price hikes, especially affecting high-population states like UP.
To prevent such scenarios and ensure affordability of essentials like pulses and cooking oil, the state is working to boost their production.
This includes encouraging farmers to increase the cultivation area and ensuring they receive fair prices for their produce.
Recently, the central government hiked the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for key kharif crops, with pulses and oilseeds witnessing increases ranging from 81% to 172% over the past decade.
While the lowest increase was 81% for groundnut, the highest 172% was for niger seed.
Alongside price support, the government is actively educating and assisting farmers to adopt better practices.
As part of the country’s largest-ever agricultural campaign, Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, farmers are being trained in advanced cultivation techniques for pulses and oilseeds.
Under this campaign, the Yogi government is distributing 458,000 free minikits to progressive farmers. These include 105,000 kits of pulses like urad, moong and arhar; 100,000 kits for sesame (til); and 6,000 kits for groundnut.
The government is also implementing dedicated schemes like the Dalhan-Tilhan Mission and the Dalhan Gram Yojana to expand cultivation.
Moreover, pulses have been included under UP flagship One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative.
According to data released by the state government, UP oilseed production was only 1.24 million tonnes (MT) in 2016–17.
By 2023–24, it increased to over 2.03 MT, a remarkable growth of 128%. A similar increase has also been seen in pulse crops.
This upward trend in the area and yield of both pulses and oilseeds is expected to continue through ambitious schemes like the UP AGREES project, which is being implemented with support from the World Bank and focuses on regions like Bundelkhand and Purvanchal.