To mark the UN World Pulses Day, celebrated on February 10 every year, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) is organising a one-day conference on Monday. The meet, which would attract experts in farming, agricultural economics, and marketing from India as well as abroad, would be inaugurated by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

There would be four sessions that would discuss the need for enhanced production and consumption of pulses for nutrition, investment in the supply chain of pulses and the need of value addition as well the outlook of pulses globally with emphasis on India, a statement said here on Saturday.

In 2016, the UN decided to designate February 10 as World Pulses Day to create an awareness about the need for enhancing production and consumption of pulses to buttress their importance as plant protein.

In the backdrop of pulse crises in India, the government had decided to create a buffer by including it in the Price Stabilization Management Fund. NAFED, during last three years, had made record procurements of pulses at minimum support price (MSP). This stocking of pulses by NAFED benefited both consumers as well farmers, who got MSP for their produce and consumers were relieved with a stable retail price of pulses, as compared with 2015-16 prices when it sky rocketed to over Rs.200 per kg . Besides, the continuous procurement of pulses by NAFED encouraged farmers to produce more pulses, making India attain self-sufficiency in their production. The event is also co-sponsored by the Global Pulse Confederation (GPC), headquartered in Dubai, the statement said.

Apart from Tomar, the conference would be addressed by Cindy Brown, GPC president, who heads a delegation, Ramesh Chand, Member NITI Aayog, Ravi Kant, Secretary, Department of Food and Consumer Affairs, and Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, NAFED MD.

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