India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the nodal body for India's pulses trade and industry, successfully hosted virtual celebrations on the 4th World Pulses Day on behalf of India, conveying a global message of "Go Green with Pulse Protein".
The event brought together international audiences for a common goal of creating awareness of the benefits of pulses and driving the agenda of an increase in consumption. The live event highlighted the role of pulses as the most sustainable crop in the world. IPGA hosted a live webinar on Thursday, February 10, 2022, with eminent speakers like Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog as the Chief Guest, Dr S K Malhotra - Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Sunil Kumar Singh, Additional Managing Director, NAFED as keynote speakers.
Speaking on occasion, Bimal Kothari, Vice Chairman, IPGA, said, "I am convinced that it is time for India to focus on pulses and oilseeds as we did with cereals during Green Revolution. Pulses deserve a similar kind of policy, research and investment support. With the current govt attention, India's production of pulses has reached a new high of 23-25 mn tons."
Dr S K Malhotra, Agriculture Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said, "Multi-pronged strategy needs to be followed for agriculture production and development, particularly for pulses. In 2015-16, total production was 16.2 million tonne for pulses against a 25million tonne of requirement. Then a roadmap was made to achieve productivity-led growth. This could only be achieved by coming up with new varieties with high yielding and special resilience towards drought and other climatic conditions. This was implemented under the National Food Security Mission Programme by following a cluster approach.
IPGA's vision is to make the Indian pulses and grains industry and trade globally competitive; and, in so doing, help advance India's food and nutrition security. IPGA takes the onus of essaying a leadership role in the domestic agri-business and play a more proactive role in the global domain to foster healthy relations among Indian market participants and between India and all associates overseas.