Govt may carve out dedicated R&D corpus to boost pulses, cotton crops

The government may announce a dedicated research and development (R & D) corpus for pulses and cotton in the Union budget for FY27, as it looks to address India’s persistent yield gaps, two government officials aware of the discussions said.

- Dhirendra Kumar & Vijay C Roy

Despite being world's largest producer of pulses, India's productivity remains well below global average.

(MINT)

The move aims to check India's dependence on imports and reduce the crops’ vulnerability to climate shocks, they said. The research allocations could be carved out from government's ongoing missions for the crops, they said.

Despite being world’s top producer of pulses and the second-largest one of cotton, India’s productivity in both crops remains well below global averages, leaving domestic supply exposed to external market swings while demand surges.

While the average yield in pulses was 926 kg per hectare as against a global average of 1,015 kg in FY25, the country’s productivity remains well below global average.