‘Sell black gram, green gram immediately after harvest’

The Agro Market Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre (AMI&BPC) of the Department of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business has advised farmers to sell black gram and green gram upon harvest.

In a price advisory to farmers, the AMI and BPC said the price of black gram could increase slightly by up to Rs. 3 a kg and there was no chance for increase in the price for green gram in June and July.

The advisory was based on an analysis of the prices of black gram and green gram at the Villupuram regulated market. The analysis was conducted by the back office of AMI and BPC at the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (CARDS) in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

As per the analysis the price of black gram is expected to hover in the range of Rs. 57 to Rs. 59 a kg and green gram would be in the range between Rs. 64 and Rs. 65 a kg between March and May.

At present, the price of black gram was Rs. 54 a kg and green gram was ruling at Rs. 64 a kg at the Villupuram regulated market. Now, harvesting season has commenced for green gram and black gram, especially in the rice fallows areas.

In Tamil Nadu, black gram was mainly cultivated in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Villupuram, Thanjavur, and Tiruvarur districts. Green gram was grown in Nagapatinam, Tiruvarur, Thiruvallur, Thoothukudi, and Salem districts.

As per the fourth advance estimate of the Union Ministry of Agriculture, pulses production in India stood at 19.78 million tonnes in 2013-14. Pulses production was expected to touch 19.50 million tonnes in 2014-15. Black gram and green gram accounted for 7.85 and 7.76 per cent in the pulses production of the country in 2013-14, the advisory said.