The Chief Economic Advisor Dr Arvind Subramanian called for structural transformation of agriculture and policy to achieve higher growth in the country. Referring to the recent spurt in the pulses prices, Subramanian called for replication of Amul model in a broader sense for agriculture.

"We need to have an Amul for pulses. Somebody should think on how to recreate an Amul for pulses," Subramanian said while delivering the fourth Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial Lecture organised by the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) at NDDB campus.

The 'Amul' model follows the cooperative model, where farmer members of a cooperative collect milk and sell it under the farmer cooperative thereby fetching better price for farmers and increasing milk production. This made the country from net importer of milk to net exporter of milk.

"We need a big push which raises agriculture productivity in pulses. And that's going to require organisational (support), science and technology, prices, policy and all. But it is something that government is trying to address," he said.

Speaking further on the rising disparity in demand and supply of pulses, he said that while dietary changes in the country were shifting towards proteins through pulses, the policy emphasis still lay on cereals.

In his lecture on the subject of 'Reforms in Indian Agriculture', Subramanian specifically focused on the need of reforms in policy to incentivise farmers to achieve higher agriculture productivity and greater market access.

In the case of India, we 5,500 markets within one country. This means we are widely fragmented market. So, the freedom and choice that farmers of Kheda districts didn't have about 30 years ago to sell their milk, is the same situation we face today. Because, farmers are forced to sell their agriculture produces at their local APMC. And there are about 5000 APMCs in this country. So, the freedom of farmers is restricted where they can sell. That has caused grave consequences for farmers," Subramanian said in his address.

He mentioned that just as the Goods and Service Tax (GST) will have a common market to cover. "There is a need to have an open market like GST. We need to remove restrictions on storage and restrictions of state market boards," he told the gathering of academicians, practitioners, eminent thinkers, policy makers, students, and employees of IRMA, NDDB, GCMMF and other sister organisations.

The memorial lecture is an annual event to mark Dr Kurien’s birth anniversary and commemorate the exemplary work done by the father of White Revolution in India.