LENTILS TARIFF CUT WELCOMED BY AUSTRALIAN GROWERS

In news that is welcomed by all those who are in the field of agriculture, India has decided to cut its lentil tariffs from thirty per cent to ten per cent. These taxes were put into place by the Indian government to support the domestic farming community present in the country. However, in the recent past, pulse crops, like chickpeas and lentils, have witnessed an exponential growth in prices. This event has in turn lead people to fear the upcoming inflation. Due to this, India has decided to cut the tariffs in order to promote the food staples in the country. Even though the tariff production is heartily welcomed, many farm owners fear that this move may be temporary.

The lentil crops look amazing, they are on time and they look really good, so that’s huge for South Australia growers, opined Hari Yellina of Orchard Tech. In the past, the high tariff levels for both lentils and chickpeas had made the Indian market essentially unviable for farmers. The pulse crop trade to India was worth more than $1 billion a year before tariffs were introduced in 2017. There has been no change to chickpeas overnight, which still face a 60 per cent tariff.

In Australia, grain legumes are generally referred to as ‘pulses’. The term ‘pulses’ is derived from the Latin pulse meaning ‘seed or grain can be made into a thick soup or pottage’. While both soybean, lentil and peanut are leguminous plants they are not regarded as pulses as they are traditionally seen to be oilseed crops. The six major pulse groups grown in Australia are chickpea, fava/broad bean, field pea, lentil, lupin and mungbean. In addition, there are a number of smaller and/or niche market crops such as azuki bean, navy bean, cowpea, vetch and pigeon pea.