Union Minister for Agriculture Welfare, Rural and Farmers Development, Panchayat Raj and Food Processing Industries, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that India is the biggest producer and consumer of pulses in the world and it has almost achieved self- sufficiency in pulses.
In the last five-six years, India has increased pulses production from 140 lakh tonnes to more than 240 lakh tonnes. In the year 2019-20, India produced 23.15 million tonnes of pulses, which is 23.62% of the world. The Minister was speaking at the international event held in Rome to celebrate World Pulses Day which he attended virtually.
Speaking about the importance of the pulses, Tomar said that as pulses are nutritious and rich in protein, they are important for the food basket, especially in a country like India predominantly vegetarian.
Pulses have low water consumption and can be grown in dry and rain-fed areas. It improves soil fertility by conserving nitrogen in the soil, reducing the need for fertilizers and therefore which is reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
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