MOZAMBIQUE – Mozambique has inked a trade agreement with the government of India to export 200,000 tonnes of pigeon peas to the Asian country over the next five years.
This was revealed by the outgoing Indian ambassador, Rajeev Kumar who stated that the Indian government had sent a proposal via the Foreign Ministry to import the stated amounts, and the Agriculture Ministry has accepted it.
The export of pigeon peas to India arose as the result of a memorandum of understanding signed during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mozambique in July 2016, reports Club of Mozambique.
The imports will be subject to production of “Certificate of Origin” certified by the authorized signatories in the ICM (Instituto de Cereasi de Mocambique).
They will be allowed only through the following 5 ports i.e., Mumbai, Tuticorin, Chennai, Kolkata and Hazira.
India has increased the import quota of pigeon peas from 200,000 metric tonnes to 400,000 metric tonnes for the fiscal year 2020/21.
Pigeon peas plays a crucial role in the economy of Northern and Central Mozambique as it has over two million small scale farmers growing it as a cash crop.
In India it is an essential part of the region’s cuisine. To ensure ample supply, the government increased the import quota of the grain from 200,000 metric tonnes to 400,000 metric tonnes for the fiscal year 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
The country has not only increased the quota for pigeon peas but also upped the quantities for all other pulses to 3 million tonnes (mt) from 1.34mt of 2019/20, according to reports by DownToEarth.
Despite the limit set prior season, India ended up importing around 2.63 mt till January 2020. This was also the case in 2018-19 where a quota of 0.5 mt was fixed but the country ended up bring in 2.53 mt.
India started fixing quotas from 2018 to stop prices from falling. Prior to that it allowed duty-free imports after the drought in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 it imported a record of 6.6 mt of pulses sending domestic prices crashing.
This season’s imports limits have been raised as the country did not meet the production target of 26.30 mt of pulses for the year 2019-20.
The actual production was reduced by 10 per cent because of unseasonal rain and a subsequent reduction in the area of land being cultivated for pulses, indicated India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA).
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