You could soon be eating arhar and urad pulses made in Mozambique

Arhar and urad, two popular variety of pulses in India, are in growing demand these days. To meet this demand, the Cabinet has approved signing a long-term Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique, which would double the amount of pluses that we import from the African country.

At present, India imports one lakh tonnes of these pulses, and as per the MoU, it would be doubled to two lakh tonnes by 2020-21.

IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced this decision of the cabinet, adding that there would be no change in the taste of the crop to be grown in Mozambique from the one grown in India. While, generally, the pulses grown in foreign countries look and taste different from the ones produced in India, because of which they don’t usually find many takers here.

To make sure that there is no compromise with the quality and taste, the government will provide high-quality seeds and technical assistance to the African country. As per TOI, the deal could also involve some financial help, including an assurance that all pulses grown there would be bought by India.

The import would be done through private channels or government-to-government (G2G) sales through state agencies that the two countries would nominate.

Image source