Diversify agriculture and encourage farmers to grow pulses, Supreme Court tells government

The Supreme Court of India has asked the Union government to revisit its existing policy framework and explore a better substitute under which farmers are incentivised to diversify from conventional crops such as wheat and paddy to pulses.

Besides a relook into policy and diversification of crops, the court asked the Centre to convene a meeting of different stakeholders to look into various issues, including the absence of an incentivised minimum support price (MSP), which should be sufficient enough to cover the expenditure small or medium level farmers incur in producing pulses; guaranteed timely sale of pulse products; and fixation of the cost price of yellow peas, which are currently being imported, so that it did not impact the home-grown pulses produced by farmers.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the Centre, through its Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Consumer Affairs must put their heads together, and with the aid of subject experts with ground knowledge, mould a framework which would make pulse cultivation worthwhile for farmers.

​Farmers’ pulse: On India and its demand for pulses

“There should be a campaign to diversify agriculture. c is the biggest challenge in North India… Do we require such a quantity of paddy. we may need for export purposes, but land can also be diverted for pulses. Please ask your Ministries to constitute a committee of people - not people… we have nothing against foreign degrees, etc., but somebody who has worked at the ground level, who knows the psyche and compelling circumstances that drive the farming community,” Chief Justice Kant addressed Additional Solicitor-General N. Venkataraman, appearing for the Centre.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Kisan Mahapanchayat, an NGO represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, seeking curbs on the import of yellow peas, which was eating into the livelihoods of farmers growing pulses.

Mr. Venkataraman submitted that there had been a steep decline in the production of pulses from 273 lakh tonnes in 2021-2022 to 242 lakh tonnes in 2023-2024 following a disease, which had led the Ministries to import yellow peas.

Chief Justice Kant said the government should realise the real problem lay in the lack of a guaranteed MSP for pulses.

“You have MSP for wheat, rice paddy, millets. You have to make sure farmers would get a guaranteed price. Unfortunately, this issue has not been addressed… Yes, it is a matter of policy. There is a dedicated price for 100 quintal wheat, but a farmer would have to run pillar to post for a good price for pulses,” the Chief Justice addressed Mr. Venkataraman.

Mr. Bhushan said the Chief Justice’s observations exactly echoed the reports of the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices in 2025. The commission had recommended “promotion of balanced production patterns, comprehensive diversification, an action plan with special focus on technological innovations and remunerative process to pulses and oil seed farmers”. He said the commission had also suggested aligning import duty structure with MSP to ensure remunerative prices to farmers and encourage them to increase the area of production of oil seeds and pulses.

“We hope and expect that the Ministries will resolve this issue effectively through a new policy decision. It goes without saying that interdepartmental deliberations will take into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices,” the court order said.

The Bench directed the government to place on record the deliberations and listed the case for further hearing on May 8.