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| 1. |
Explain the briefly millets and pulses |
| Answer» Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. ... The crop is favored due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions. Millets are indigenous to many parts of the world.India is the largest producer (25% of global production), consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world. Pulses account for around 20 per cent of the area under foodgrains and contribute around 7-10 per cent of the total foodgrains production in the country. Though pulses are grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons, Rabi pulses contribute more than 60 per cent of the total production.Gram is the most dominant pulse having a share of around 40 per cent in the total production followed by Tur/Arhar at 15 to 20 per cent and Urad/Black Matpe and Moong at around 8-10 per cent each. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are the top five pulses producing States. Productivity of pulses is 764 kg/ha.Pul\xa0s es India are generally cultivated on marginal lands and under rain-fed conditions. Therefore, only 15% of the area guarantee any assured irrigation. The production of pulses have high level of fluctuation especially due to biotic and abiotic stresses. Also the prices have fluctuations due to lack of effective support system from the government. As a result of this, farmers are not very keen on opting for pulse cultivation in spite of higher rise in prices in recent years. Farmers are opting for other cash rich crops instead of pulses due to better return and lower risk exposure.\xa0In spite of such factors, there has been improvement in the yields over the years and resulted in higher production of pulse. But our yield is still lower compared to other countries due to poor spread of improved varieties of crops and technologies too, sudden climate changes, exposure to pests and diseases and general declining trend of the growth rate of production. Government has taken enough steps and introduced support systems to improve this condition over the recent years. This has resulted in above normal growth in the area of pulse production in recent years.There has been less than 1% growth annually in pulse production in recent years in India which is less than even half\xa0the growth rate of the population in the country. This resulted in a sharp decline in the availability of pulses which had a bearing on the consumption too.\xa0The government intervened and National Food Security Mission for pulses was enforced. As a result, there has been\xa0a major increase in pulse consumption in the last four years due to higher production and larger imports of some pulses. | |