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Recipes highlight pulses’ potential as a delicious, nutritious and flexible food ingredient as part of UN celebrations in 2016.

CHICAGO, USA – A global contingent of food innovators who use pulses as the main ingredient in their recipes is showcasing their products at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Expo this week.

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Boosting production and export of pulses in East Africa can provide India with a more sustainable supply of the commodity. This will address issues of rising consumption and price instability that contribute to India’s malnutrition problem, while at the same time delivering a reliable source of income for East African farmers.

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This post was written by Dr. Mahmoud Solh, Director General, ICARDA.

2016 will be a year to remember, but what do we want to remember it for?

This year, the entrenched Syrian crisis continues to exert a drastic humanitarian toll. The war has so far claimed 400,000 lives, wounded another 1.4 million people, and displaced millions within and outside the country with much human suffering. Political unrest is also fueled in other dryland regions around the world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa where farming and food security are increasingly threatened by desertification, water scarcity, climate variability, and food insecurity.

The United Nations declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses. An international campaign is taking place with the UN, the Global Pulse Confederation, and over twenty partners that has contributed to a growing awareness of sustainable agriculture and food security benefits from growing and eating beans, peas, lentils, and chickpeas. The campaign has also brought to light the very modest global research investment for pulses compared to other major food crops despite the tremendous nutritional and health benefits of pulse consumption for food insecure people and those suffering from non-communicable diseases.

2016 is also the year that nations of the world are signing a historic climate change treaty that commits 196 nations to slowing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience to unstoppable climatic changes. Pulse crops are tremendously diverse and have significant environmental benefits, in particular with their low water and carbon footprints. These are major advantages for farmers, especially in dryland areas, who need to become resilient to impending changes like higher temperatures and extreme weather events.

The solution

In order for farmers to take advantage of what pulse crops have to offer, the big challenge is making sure they have access to the right seeds for their growing conditions. This means safeguarding the irreplaceable genetic resources that are the building blocks for sustainable agriculture and food security in the face of changing climates. Over more than five decades, through hundreds of field collection missions in the Fertile Crescent and beyond, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has painstakingly assembled a germplasm ‘treasure trove’ for cultivated and wild plants, including legume and rhizobium species, many of which are now extinct. Since two-thirds of the ICARDA collection originate from dry areas, it is an invaluable repository of desirable plant genes for tolerance to harsh conditions including drought, heat, cold, and high salinity as well as pest, weed, and disease resistance.

Despite the difficulties that the region faces, each year ICARDA distributes 25,000 germplasm samples to breeders, scientists, and farmers throughout the world, particularly to national programs in developing countries, who use this genetic material to produce improved pulse varieties that can survive in more variable growing conditions. For example, the chickpea Gokce variety withstood the severe drought in Turkey in 2007 when most other crops failed. It has since been adopted in 85% of Turkish chickpea production areas, yielding 300 kg/ha more than other varieties.

Since 2000, collaboration between ICARDA and its Ethiopian national partners has enabled tripling of lentil production, doubling of chickpea production, and a 40% increase in faba bean production. Improved pulse varieties and associated management practices are leading to over 20% gains in yield and farm income. Today, Ethiopia currently produces over 400,000 metric tons of chickpea annually and is one of the top ten largest chickpea exporters in the world. In Nepal, improved lentil varieties developed by ICARDA produce an additional 36,000 tons each year, generating nearly USD 29 million in value and are benefitting over 800,000 farm families. In India, improved lentil technologies, with a yield increase of 30-40% over local varieties, have been adopted by 22,000 farmers. New lentil varieties adopted by farmers in South Asia fit perfectly in rice-based production systems to break the rice monoculture by replacing the fallow in rice-fallow rotations, providing extra income to farmers, improving household nutritional security, and contributing to animal and soil health. Lentil and other pulse crops have the potential to replace fallows in more than 11 million hectares in India and more than one million hectares in Bangladesh.

To achieve prosperity, better nutrition, and well-being, rural dryland communities need technological packages that fit with the complex dynamics at the farm, community, national, and regional level. Since the 1970s, ICARDA has worked with 60 national programs to generate hundreds of improved, high-yielding, resilient crop varieties and to strengthen village-based seed enterprises. These collaborations have helped hundreds of thousands of resource-poor families across the Middle East, North and East Africa, and Central and South Asia to gain improved nutrition and income. The genetic resources of cultivated and wild plants in the ICARDA GeneBank have improved the health of women and children, particularly through the bio-fortification of lentil with high iron and zinc content to counteract micronutrient deficiencies that cause anemia and impair physical and mental growth. With the national program in Bangladesh, ICARDA enriched lentil varieties with iron and zinc and these are now grown by nearly 1 million farmers on 86% of lentil production areas, delivering more than 33,000 tons of extra seed and 70,000 tons of straw worth USD 30 million annually.

Getting improved pulse varieties onto farmers’ fields also means cultivating scientific capacity. At ICARDA, we have found that transformative research-for-development emerges directly from hand-in-hand partnerships with national programs that are anchored in co-authorship. Close engagement in designing and implementing research helps to enrich national scientific capacity and ensures that research is informed by nuanced understandings of national and regional contexts and needs. In turn, this results in much more successful adoption of improved seeds and national leadership in seed multiplication programs. These partnerships have nurtured a generation of men and women scientists from the Middle East and North Africa and cultivated strong national institutions performing high quality, innovative science.

Resilience to crisis

When the Syrian crisis erupted, ICARDA was able to call on these strong partnerships and the trust it built with national programs in an hour of need. ICARDA scientists were evacuated from their headquarters in Aleppo and given access to laboratories and research stations in Morocco, Ethiopia, India, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan, where they continue their important work through the CGIAR global research programs (CRPs) and more than 120 research projects for sustainable agricultural developmentThe entire germplasm collection, which ICARDA holds in trust for the international community, was secured through duplications and safe storage in Morocco and Lebanon as well as the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, which holds 80% of ICARDA’s genetic resources.

ICARDA has managed to survive major regional turmoil and kept a light shining during a dark time in its history through the support of national programs, the CGIAR donors, and other donors. Safe duplication and storage of the seeds entrusted to ICARDA represents a source of tremendous hope for rebuilding the agricultural sector and agricultural research institutions in in Syria and in post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq where institutions were weakened and genetic resources collections during wars.

In a globally interconnected world, no nation is immune to the disruptive effects of climate change, food insecurity, and political conflicts. In volatile and high risk regions, it is especially important to build strong partnerships for long-term, high-trust scientific collaborations that are resilient to not only climate change, but also violent conflicts. International commitment to effective regional agricultural research for development represents a critical and cost-effective investment in a resilient global food system. Let’s remember 2016 as the year the world decided to capitalize on decades of scientific knowledge and millennia of agricultural biodiversity by investing in the immense potential of pulse crops.

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“Kids Country” event was held at the East of England Showground – July 1st 2016.  The Food & Farming Day themed around Pulses was attended by 5,200 school children.  This year the British Edible Pulse Association (BEPA) felt it the perfect opportunity to display and educate children about Pulses and their benefits for health, diet and the environment.

The International Year of Pulses stand included displays of growing pulses through their lifecycle, a pea video produced by Princes / Bachelors, plus samples of snacks for the kids and teachers to try of Calbee Pea Crisps, Mushy Peas and roasted Split Faba Beans. Stickers were given to visitors, which read “Have you BEAN for a PEA?”

BEPA’s opinion of the event was one of overwhelming success. The opportunity to meet, talk to and allow the children to both feel and try some of the world’s pulses was a great opportunity and experience for them.  

 

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30 June 2016 - The 18th National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 Awards Gala Dinner was held in Gauteng on Thursday, 30 June 2016. Contributions to excellence in science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa (SA) were awarded and celebrated in the following broad areas:

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This article originally appeared on icrisat.org.

Mr Shobhana K Pattanayak, Secretary, Agriculture, Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DoAC & FW), Government of India, has called on all value chain actors including farmers, seed companies, private sector and research organizations to find a joint solution to resolve all hurdles and issues that are preventing Indian farmers from meeting their demand for hybrid pigeonpea seeds and other pulses.

At the request of the Government of India, ICRISAT recently hosted a high-level planning meeting at its headquarters in Hyderabad, which was chaired by Mr Pattanayak.

Over forty participants including farmer representatives, government officials from five State Departments (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha), state agricultural universities and eight seed companies involved in the production of hybrid seeds came together and started a new initiative to explore ways of making India self-sufficient in the production of pulses, in particular hybrid pigeonpea.

At a time when India is keen to be pulse self-sufficient and is committed to overcome the under supply and export costs, popularization and increasing the uptake of hybrid pigeonpea across India was recognized  as one of the key solutions during the deliberations.

“We want to hear from all the sectors on what is stopping the popularization of hybrid pigeonpea and what can be done about it. We need to popularize the pigeonpea hybrids in major pigeonpea producing states of India, and this action plan has to address the issue of seed production and availability of hybrid seeds to the farmers. The solution needs to have all the parties playing a part,” said, Mr Pattanayak.

“In order to meet its ever-growing demand for pulses, India needs to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses. We need to make pulses production more profitable by reducing production costs through mechanization, using hybrids and minimizing the post-harvest losses.” said Dr David Bergvinson, Director General ICRISAT, during his address to participants via video conference from USA.

Reiterating ICRISAT’s extensive research in pulses, Dr Bergvinson said that hybrid pigeonpea is the world’s only hybrid amongst the legumes, which was developed by ICRISAT along with its partners in research over the last 30 years. But despite being hailed as a great scientific breakthrough and huge success, uptake is nowhere near what it could be.

Looking at the success of some farmers who have cultivated hybrid pigeonpea and market demand, ICRISAT has seen a huge surge in enquiries for hybrid pigeonpea, and scientists have received over 700 phone calls from Indian farmers in the last three weeks asking for seeds.

Mr Manik Kadam a farmer from Donoda village of Maharashtra, who took part in the deliberations, was proud to say that he has successfully growing ICRISAT’s pigeonpea hybrids for the last 5 years.

“Hybrid pigeonpea gives yield of over 3 tons per ha as compared to local varieties’ yield of 1.7 to 2 tons per ha; it has helped to increase my income. Also compared to local varieties, hybrids like ICPH 2740, ICPH 3762 are resistant to diseases, hence reducing the cost involved in pesticide spraying,” said Mr Kadam.

With regular monitoring and guidance from ICRISAT scientists, Mr Kadam is now an expert in hybrid pigeonpea technology and has become a popular farmer in his region, attracting other farmers and agriculture officers to see his hybrid fields.

Mr Sanjay Lohiya, Joint Secretary, DoAC & FW stressed the need to harness the potential of hybrid pigeonpea to achieve pulse self-sufficiency and said that we need to discuss all aspects of hybrids including seed cost, target areas suitable for hybrid cultivation and workout the plan by leveraging ongoing schemes of the Government of India.

He also said that since there are government incentives in the form of subsidies for seed production and seed distribution, a cluster-based approach for demonstrating the potential of pigeonpea hybrid needs to be prepared along with the road map and this is the best opportunity to popularize pigeonpea hybrid.

Dr Suhas P Wani, Director, Regional Program for Asia at ICRISAT presented the challenges and opportunities for harnessing the potential of hybrid pigeonpea in different Indian states and proposed a detailed road map for covering the large areas during the year 2016 and as well as plans to produce hybrid seeds and also the parental lines needed for scaling-up the pigeonpea hybrid cultivation.

ICRISAT and state officials chalked out the detailed strategy for the rainy season of 2016 for popularizing hybrid pigeonpea cultivars in different states as well as the plans for seed production to cover larger areas during 2017-18. The work plan till 2018 aims to cover an area of over three million ha under pigeonpea cultivation.