Efforts are under way to procure pulses, including black gram and green gram, directly from farmers in the district.
These pulses would be procured with the help of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Marketing Federation at fair price from farmers to avoid middlemen, Collector M. Ravikumar said here on Monday.
The procured pulses would be marketed through farm fresh vegetable outlet and also despatched to markets in Chennai. The bountiful rainfall during the previous year triggered a considerable growth of pulses. Harvesting is under way and the farmers are cheerful.
The district received an excessive rainfall of 101 mm, adding to the total of 763.35 mm, the Collector told the media. Pulses cultivation increased to 73,545 hectares against its cultivation of 56,337 hectares during 2013.
While black gram cultivation area increased to an extent of 4,900 ha, green gram raised additionally on 12,146 ha. Totally, black gram was cultivated on 30,810 ha and green gram on 42, 310 ha, Mr. Ravikumar said.