Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday inaugurated a tur dal procurement portal through which farmers can register and sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF at a minimum support price or market price.

A similar facility will be launched in future for urad and masoor farmers as well as maize farmers, he said.

The minister also transferred via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) about Rs 68 lakh to 25 farmers towards payment for sale of tur via the portal.

Cooperative National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) undertake procurement of pulses on behalf of the government's in order to maintain a buffer stock.

After the launch, the Minister said before the sowing operation, tur farmers can register on the portal to sell their produce to NAFED and NCCF at minimum support price (MSP).

The registered tur farmers will have an option to sell to either NAFED/NCCF or open market, he said and added suppose the open market price of tur remains higher than the MSP, in that case an average rate will be arrived through a formula.

Shah further said more farmers were not taking up pulses farming as prices were not assured. With procurement via the portal, the initiative will bring a major reform in the agriculture sector and help achieve self-reliance in pulses production.

"Tur will be procured from farmers and it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantee," he added.

Stating that the country is still dependent on import of some varieties of pulses except for chana and moong, the Minister said, "By December 2027, the country should become self reliant in pulses. We will not import even one kilo of pulses from January 2028."

He appealed to Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), Farmer Producers Organisations (FPOs) and progressive farmers to create awareness about the portal and encourage farmers to take advantage of this facility.

Pulses production has increased in the last ten years to 26.05 million tonnes in 2022-23 from 19.2 million tonnes in 2013-14 crop year (July-June), due to more than two times increase in the minimum support price, he said.

However, the domestic production of pulses is still short of consumption and depends on imports.

Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, Minister of State for Cooperation B L Verma, and Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini Choubey were also present at the event.