The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (FoodMin) has written to the Ministry of Agriculture, urging them to impose restrictions on duty-free imports of yellow peas to protect local farmers. This is because the landed cost of imported yellow peas is lower than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for other pulses, which affects the prices of other pulses and harms local farmers and consumers. The FoodMin believes that the duty-free imports, especially from countries like Myanmar and Tanzania, are disrupting the domestic pulses market and hurting growers who lack market information.
The article notes that the landed cost of yellow peas has been lower than the MSP for other pulses for two consecutive years. The government aims to extend the MSP and procurement to all major pulses.