The Centre is considering pulling out of the procurement of pulses at minimum support price (MSP), and instead ask states to procure the key farm produce. As per the proposal, the Centre would bear about 30% of the amount spent for procurement on account of loss that agencies of state governments would incur during storage and release of pulses. Centre failed to procure enough pulses at MSP post the bumper harvest, which has resulted in distress sale by farmers. Secondly, the Centre is also struggling to dispose off the old stock of about 1.8 million tonnes of pulses since states are not picking them up from the central pool. the central outgo for compensating the states for their loss is estimated about Rs 1,800-Rs 2,000 crore. The proposal, which was presented to a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet secretary, was recently discussed with state food secretaries.