Role of Pulses in Enhancing Nutritional Status of Rural Poor: Micro-Level Evidence from Semi-Arid Tropics of India

Abstract

This paper has presented evidence on the role of pulses in enhancing the nutritional status of the rural communities in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of India. The paper has used primary data from the ICRISAT VLS nutrition surveys (8 villages from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra) and the longitudinal panel micro-level data (for 6 villages of Telangana and Maharashtra) from 2009 to 2014. The study has revealed that there has been a decline in the area and production of pulses in the SAT villages of India, even though at the macro-level, pulses production has shown an increase. Pulses do contribute to the diversity in diets but the adequacy of protein from the pulses in the diet has not been analyzed in this paper. The regression analysis has indicated the importance and role of pulses in improving the nutritional status of the rural communities. The paper has concluded that there has to be a concerted policy and program action to reintroduce pulses into the cropping pattern in SAT-India and improve the consumption of pulses to the level that has a positive impact on human nutrition. Empowering women along the entire pulse value chain has been observed as one approach to enhance pulse productivity and consumption. Nutrition education, awareness generation and nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions for pulses are the ways forward to reduce malnutrition in India.