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Informist, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025

 

By Pallavi Singhal and Afra Abubacker

 

NEW DELHI – Tanzania is in talks to export green gram to India, Irene M. Mlola, director general of the Cereals and Other Produce Regulatory Authority at Tanzania's Ministry of Agriculture, told Informist on the sidelines of the pulses conclave last week. Imports of green gram were shifted to the ‘restricted' category in February 2022. This means imports are now limited and subject to stricter regulations. As a result, Tanzania is currently not exporting green gram to India.

Tanzania's Deputy Prime Minister Doto Mashaka Biteko, addressing the conclave Thursday, had sought removal of trade restrictions on green gram imports by India and extension of the existing agreement for duty-free supply of pigeon pea. "We appeal to the Government of India to consider recent restrictions on green gram," Biteko said at the event organised by the India Pulses and Grains Association.

The Tanzanian agriculture ministry representative, commenting on the volatility in India's import-export policies on agricultural produce, said that "whatever policy that we do, we need to have a bigger eye that is more of a global outlook because we are no longer individual countries". Indian import tariffs can hurt the Tanzanian market if levied on chickpea and pigeon pea, Mlola said.

 

"The average production we are projecting (for pigeon pea and chickpea) is going to be to the tune of 500,000 metric tonnes, which will affect quite a number of farmers in my country," she said. India's government has made frequent changes to its pulses import policy over the past two years. While imports of masur, chana, and urad remain duty-free till the end of the financial year 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), tur imports remain duty-free till the end of FY26, and yellow pea imports remain duty-free till the end of February. Indian associations like the India Pulses and Grains Association have time and again called for policy clarity and long-term visibility on import policy. The government's firefighting approach and frequent policy changes hinder planning and sustainability, they have said.

Following are edited excerpts of an interview with Irene Mlola:

 

Q. Deputy Prime Minister Biteko said India should lift restrictions on import of green gram. How have these restrictions hurt Tanzania and how will lifting the curbs help trade between Tanzania and India?

A. Tanzania is exporting quite a lot of  pulses to India. If you are to look at the total volume, we are talking about $7.9 billion of trade that is happening between the two countries. But green gram exports remain in a restricted category and we are not allowed to export it to India even when we are producing quite a lot of it. Last year alone our production of green gram stood at 200,000 tonnes. The export of this crop is important for our farmers because we want to encourage them to continue farming these pulses.

 

Q. What are the talks with the Indian government on this looking like? 

A. It has been one of those sort of ongoing engagements. And we believe we will be able to break ground, because if we look at it on a bigger scale, we are actually doing a lot more business than just 200,000 tonnes of green gram.

 

Q. There has been some criticism of Indian policies and how volatile they have been. How important is policy stability for a country like Tanzania? 

A. We cannot control the world nowadays. As we try to mitigate the effects of climate change, we depend on each other to be able to provide food security, and I think that is something we need to look at in a more balanced way. India, despite a spike (in production) now and then, has actually allowed countries such as ourselves to continue exporting our pulses to this country. 

Policy stability is crucial for us, because if India changes its policy abruptly, that definitely will affect us, affect the livelihoods of our farmers. And when it affects us, it affects for a longer period of time. And during that time, you cannot really guarantee that issues of monsoons and other climate effects will not affect you. So it's important to look at it in a more balanced way. 

Whatever policy we do, we need to have a bigger eye that is more of a global outlook because we are no longer individual countries. We depend on each other. We have all seen how geopolitical issues in one corner affect the other corner of the world. And thus, it is important to have a global perspective even as you look at the internal economy.

 

The average production we are projecting (for pigeon pea and chickpea) is soon going to be to the tune of 500,000 metric tonnes. Tanzania heavily depends on the Indian market for pulses exports, so any changes in duty policies affect us and the well-being of our farmers. 

Q. Is Tanzania in discussions with India on any memoranda of understanding?

A. We have some ongoing discussions. I can't talk about it because they haven't materialized. But definitely, as I said, we are two strong partners. We have very strong ties historically. But we do see some fruition on higher bilateral relationship and engagement soon.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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