India’s Journey to Pulse Self-Reliance: achievements and path ahead

Abstract

During the last five decades, pulse production has increased 2.8 times, mainly due to expansion in cultivated area and improvement in productivity. Most notably, sustained and dedicated efforts over several decades in the pulses sector led to the so-called ‘Pulse Revolution’, resulting in near self-sufficiency with a production touching 27.30 million tonnes. Nevertheless, the growth achieved in pulses production is still far less than the growth registered in the cereals production. Since pulses are an essential component of the Indian diet, achieving the goal of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ requires self-sufficiency in pulse production to ensure food and nutritional security for an alarmingly growing population. Within the Indian pulse basket, chickpea contributes the largest share followed by mungbean and arhar. Pulse consumption is more diversified than cereal consumption and has increased in recent years. Of the total pulse consumption, arhar accounts for 30.9%, followed by gram (23.8%), masoor (13.9%), moong (12.9%), and urd (11.3%). India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses; however, it continues to face a persistent gap between domestic supply and demand. A dedicated pulses varietal development programme started in 1966 with the inception of All India Coordinated Pulses Improvement Project (AICPIP), and to date, nearly 570 high-yielding, short-duration varieties with major biotic and abiotic stress resistance have been developed, along with improvements in the availability of quality seed to the farmers. To increase pulses production government of India launched many programmes during the last five decades, which have contributed significantly in enhancing pulses production. Despite these efforts, the productivity of most of the pulse crops is still below the global average, mainly because they are cultivated on marginal land under rainfed conditions and are more vulnerable to various biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, limited availability of quality seeds and inputs, poor market infrastructure, and lower economic returns compared to cereals further constrain pulse production. Therefore, to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses, India must adopt a multi-prong strategy with a major focus on developing climate-resilient varieties/hybrids using modern tools such as genomics, genome editing, speed breeding, genomic selection, and highthroughput phenotyping. There is huge untapped potential for unlocking the potential of rice-fallows keeping in mind water budgeting and risk-smart cropping sequence. Other key interventions include designing climate-smart production technologies, mechanization, intercropping with pulses, value addition, reduction of post-harvest loss, strengthening market infrastructure, development of site-specific technologies, and ensuring remunerative prices to pulse growers.