Pulses for Sustainable Livelihood and Food Security

Singh, Pushpa and Singh, K.M. and Shahi, Brajesh (2016): Pulses for Sustainable Livelihood and Food Security.

Abstract

Pulses has important role in contributing to food and nutritional security and replenishing soil nutrients having a huge potential in addressing needs like future global food security, nutrition and environmental sustainability needs. They also play an important role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture production by lowering GHG emissions. Farmers in grain and oilseed production have found economic benefits from lower input costs and increased profits by including a pulse crop in their rotation. In the face of shrinking natural resources and high population growths, enhancing production of pulses is now a major concern for Bihar in particular and nation as whole . The current shortfall in pulse availability is mainly due to less seed replacement rate of improved varieties, poor adoption of improved technologies by the farmers, abrupt climatic changes, complex disease pest syndrome, and emergence of new bio-types and races of key pests and pathogens and declining total factor productivity. The possibility of improving pulse productivity two to three times through existing varieties and available package of technologies has been demonstrated in FLDs by adoption of entirely new but simple and farmer-friendly technologies and tools. Considering that the frontiers of expansion of cultivated area are negligent, high demand of pulses must come from increase in yield by strengthening adaptive research and technology assessment, refinement and transfer capabilities, so that the existing technology transfer gaps can be bridged. For this, an appropriate network of extension service needs to be created to stimulate and encourage both top-down and bottom-up flows of information between farmers, extension workers, and research scientists to promote generation, adoption, and evaluation of location-specific farm technologies.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pulses, Constraints in pulses production, Area Expansion under pulses, Bihar
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q13 - Agricultural Markets and Marketing ; Cooperatives ; Agribusiness; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q16 - R&D ; Agricultural Technology ; Biofuels ; Agricultural Extension Services

References

Joshi, P.K., P. Birthal, V. Bourai, 2002. Socioeconomic constraints and opportunities in rainfed rabi cropping in rice fallow areas of India. Submitted to International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, India.

Kearney, J., 2010. Food consumption trends and drivers. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 365: 2793–2807.

Kumar, Amalendu and Singh KM.2016.An Evaluation of Factors Affecting Pulses Production and Consumption in Bihar. Journal of AgriSearch. 3(4):226-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.21921/jas.v3i4.6707

Lal, R. 2004. Carbon Emissions from Farm Operations. Environment International. 30: 981-990.

Lemke, R.L., Zhong, Z., Campbell, C.A. and Zentner, R. 2007. Can Pulse crops play a role in mitigating greenhouse gases from North American agriculture. Agron. J. 99:1719–1725.

Peoples, M., T. Swan, L. Goward, J. Hunt, G. Li, R. Harris, D. Ferrier, C. Browne, S. Craig, H.van Rees, J. Mwendwa, T. Pratt, F. Turner, T. Potter, A. Glover, J. Midwood, 2015. Legume effects on soil N dynamics - comparisons of crop response to legume and fertiliser N. Grains Research and Development Corporation, Government of Australia.

Singh, A.K, Manibhushan, Bhatt, B.P Singh, K.M., and Upadhaya, A. 2013. An Analysis of Oilseeds and Pulses Scenario in Eastern India during 2050-51. Journal of Agricultural Science 5(1): 241-249.

Singh, Pushpa; Shahi, Brajesh and Singh, K.M. 2016. Enhancing Pulses Production in India for Improved Livelihood and Nutritional Security: An Analysis of Constraints and Strategies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.30789.24805

Singh, Pushpa, Shahi, B. and Singh, K.M. 2016. Pulses Production in Bihar: An Overview of Constraints and Opportunities. Journal of AgriSearch.3(3):176-184. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.21921/jas.v3i3.11381

Singh, Pushpa, Shahi, B. and Singh, K.M. 2016. Trends of Pulses Production, Consumption and Import in India: Current Scenario and Strategies. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.2872.1520

Van Kessel, C., C. Hartley, 2000. Agricultural management of grain legumes: has it led to an increase in nitrogen fixation? Field Crops Research 65: 165-181.