Pulse of Life

A s an offering to The Year of the Pulses and to commemorate the 30th anniversary year of
Navdanya, we bring you Pulse of Life, the Rich Biodiversity of Edible Legumes. The book is
our response to the spread of monocultures through chemical, industrial and unfair farming
systems, which have destroyed our food systems, our farmers, and not in the least, our health. It
is also an attempt to bring back to memory and reconnect with the amazing diversity of pulses
and other legumes Mother Earth has so generously provided for us. As in the earlier titles of our
series The Biodiversity and Food Heritage of India, here too we connect the Seed to the Table,
focusing on the cornucopia of edible legumes existing across the world and the equally rich ways
of processing, cooking and ecological usages they have given rise to. We have also touched upon
the threats to this immensely rich gift of Nature. 2016 – INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES
Pulses and other legumes, which can both heal our body and our planet as well as provide
nutrition security in times of climate change, deserve to be put centre stage.

Earlier titles in our series include:

• Akshat – Rice

• Kanak – Wheat

• Dalhan – Pulses

• Masale – Spices

• Bhoole Bisre Anaj – Forgotten Foods

• Sherbats – Indigenous Cold Drinks

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Navdanya A
V
A-60, Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110 016, India D
A
Tel: 91-11-2696 8077, 2653 2561
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E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.navdanya.org Y
A Navdanya
 Pulse of Life
The Rich Biodiversity of
Edible Legumes
Dr. Vandana Shiva
Maya Goburdhun
Reetha Balsavar
with
Neha Raj Singh, Kartikey Shiva

Illustrations: Kaia Singh

Guest contributors:
Dr Miguel Altieri, Walter A Pengue, Dr Ashok Panigrahi

Navdanya
Pulse of Life
The Rich Biodiversity of Edible Legumes

© Navdanya, 2016
First Edition 2016

Published by :
Navdanya/RFSTE
A-60, Hauz Khas
New Delhi - 110 016, India
Tel: 91-11-2696 8077, 2653 2561
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.navdanya.org

Cover Photo: Kartikey Shiva

Designed & printed by :

Systems Vision
A-199 Okhla Ph-I, New Delhi, India
[email protected]

ii
Acknowledgment
Our journey into the World of edible legumes has been an immensely
informative and fascinating one thanks to the work of many predecessors.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to all those-authors,
researchers and websites- who enabled us to compile this offering.

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Contents
Introduction............................................................................................ 1
Pulses for Healthy Soils, Healthy people, Healthy Planet

Part 1 : The Bio-cultural Diversity of Pulses & Legumes

The World of Pulses & Edible Legumes

Overview................................................................................................................... 10

Family Tree................................................................................................................ 18

Most Prominently Cultivated Pulses........................................................................... 19

Minor Legumes.......................................................................................................... 78

Legumes used as Vegetables, Health Foods, Flavouring & Beverages......................... 99

Little Known Legumes.............................................................................................. 105

Bouillons de Culture

Cultural Aspects of Legumes.................................................................................... 112

What’s Cooking? Beans, Peas & Lentils.................................................................... 126

Pulses in Organic Farming and Food Systems.......................................................... 161

Uses of Legumes in Agroecology: Dr. Ashok Panigrahi............................................. 187

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Part 2: Monocultures, Monopolies & Free Trade:
Threats to Diversity & Sovereignty

The Soya Empire: How Corporations Use “Free trade” to....................................... 197
Create GMO Monocultures and Monopolies

Roundup Ready Soyabean in Latin America:........................................................... 220

A Machine of Hunger, Deforestation and Socio-Ecological Devastation:
Miguel A. Altieri & Walter A. Pengue

The Case of The Disappearing Dal: How India Was Transformed............................ 235
from Being the Biggest Producer of Diverse Pulses to Becoming the
Biggest Importer of Nutritionally Inferior Substitutes

Let Us Reclaim the Pulse of Life ............................................................................ 270

References................................................................................................................ 273

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 Illustration: Kaia Singh

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Introduction
Pulses for healthy soils, healthy people, healthy planet

Pulses and edible legumes are truly the pulse of life for the soil, for people and
the planet.

In our farms they give life to the soil by providing nitrogen. This is how ancient
cultures enriched their soils. Farming did not begin with the Green Revolution
and synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. Whether it is the diversity based systems of
India- Navdanya, where 9 crops are planted together, Baranaja, where 12 crops
are planted together, or the three sisters planted by the first nations in North
America, or the ancient Milpa system of Mexico, beans and pulses were vital to
indigenous agro-ecological systems.

As Sir Albert Howard, known as the father of modern agriculture, writes in The
Agriculture Testament, comparing agriculture in the West with Agriculture in India:

“Mixed crops are the rule. In this respect the cultivators of the Orient
have followed Nature’s method as seen in the primeval forest. Mixed
cropping is perhaps most universal when the cereal crop is the main
constituent. Crops like millets, wheat, barley, and maize are mixed with
an appropriate subsidiary pulse, sometimes a species that ripens much
later than the cereal. The pigeon pea (Cajanus indicus), perhaps the most
important leguminous crop of the Gangetic alluvium, is grown either with
millets or with maize……

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 Leguminous plants are common. Although it was not until 1888, after
a protracted controversy lasting thirty years, that Western science finally
accepted as proved the important role played by pulse crops in enriching
the soil, centuries of experience had taught the peasants of the east the
same lesson.”
Sir Albert Howard. An Agricultural Testament. pg 13

The displacement of biodiversity, by monocultures, had a direct impact on

the decline of pulse production, and with it a depletion of soil fertility. Mixed
cropping was impossible with the chemical intensive Green Revolution. With the
change from mixed cropping to monocultures, less pulses were planted, reducing
production and, without legumes, leaving nitrogen levels in the soil depleted.

Similarly vegetable protein from pulses was also at the heart of a balanced,
nutritious diet for humans. The Benevolent Bean is central to the Mediterranean
diet. India’s food culture is based on “dal roti“ and “dal chawal”. Urad, moong,
masoor, chana, rajma, tur, lobia, gahat have been our staples since ancient
times. While they bring us health and nutrition, they also bring health to our
soils by fixing nitrogen naturally, and thus make us free of chemical fertilisers.
That is why we always grew dals as mixtures with cereals.

India was the largest producer of pulses in the world. Today we are the biggest
importers. And since the rest of the world does not grow the diversity of pulses
we grow, what is being imported cannot replace the diversity necessary for the
Indian diet.

Pulses: The nonviolent alternative to provide nitrogen to soils

My book Soil not Oil highlights how industrial agriculture is a fossil fuel based
system, and contributes more than 40% of the green house gases that are
contributing to climate change.

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Nitrogen oxide released by synthetic fertilisers is a Green House Gas which
has 300 times more impact than carbon dioxide in destabilizing the climate.
Nitrogen oxides also react with water in the atmosphere to form acid rain.

Synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are based on fossil fuels and use the same process that
also made explosives and ammunitions for Hitler during World War II. Synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer were promoted in agriculture after World War II when large
stocks of leftover ammonium nitrate munitions were marketed for agricultural use.
The energy intensive Haber Bosch process uses natural gas to artificially fix nitrogen
from the air at high temperature and produce ammonia. Ammonia is the feedstock
for all synthetic nitrogen fertilisers as well as for explosives.

One kg of nitrogen fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of 2 litres of diesel.

Energy used during fertilizer manufacture was equivalent to 191 billion litres of
diesel in 2000 and is projected to rise to 277 billion in 2030. This is a major
contributor to climate change, yet largely ignored.

The dominant narrative is that synthetic fertilisers feed us and without them
people will starve. They produce “bread from air” it has been said.

This is false for 2 reasons. Firstly, nature and humans have evolved many
nonviolent, effective, sustainable ways to provide nitrogen to soil and plants.
Secondly, use of synthetic fertilisers are non sustainable because they destroy soil
ecology, pollute water systems, and are a major contributor to climate change.
Because they do not build soil fertility but instead undermine it, over time there
is a decline in the fertiliser response.
(Soil Health by P D Sharma, ICAR)

Take the miraculous pulse legumes, our dals. They fix nitrogen from the air
without fossil fuels and without violent processes. They have small nodules in
their roots which absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere. The bacteria (rhizobia)

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in the nodules convert the atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, and then into
organic compounds by the plant to be used for growth.

Intercropping or rotating pulses with cereals has been an ancient practice in

India. We also used green manures which are nitrogen fixing.

Besides the rhizobium, we have the amazing earthworm. Earthworm castings

contain five times more nitrogen than soil without earthworms.

Returning organic matter to the soil builds up soil nitrogen. A recent study we
are undertaking shows that organic farming has increased nitrogen content of soil
between 44-144%, depending on the crops.

Not only does organic farming avoid the emissions that come
from industrial agriculture, organic farming transforms carbon in
the air through photosynthesis and builds it up in the soil, thus
contributing to higher soil fertility, higher food production, and a
sustainable, low cost technology for addressing climate change.

Mixed cropping and organic farming reduce evaporation,

conserve water and transform the soil into a water reservoir.
0.5% increase in organic matter can increase the water held in
the soil by 80,000 litres per hectare, thus reducing water requirement
through irrigation.

Since war expertise does not provide expertise about how plants work,
how the soil works, how ecological processes work, the potential of
biodiversity and organic farming was totally ignored by the militarized
model of industrial agriculture.

Chemical fertilisers do not merely contribute to climate change: they are

also destroying our water and oceans.

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As I reported in my book, The Violence of the Green Revolution, agriculture
based on chemical fertilisers requires ten times more water to produce the same
amount of food. This is largely because chemical fertlisers destroy the living
organisms in the soil which increase the water holding capacity of soil. And just
as farms without pulses need external inputs of nitrogen fertilisers, soils without
organic matter need external inputs of water through irrigation. This intensive
irrigation is destroying our rivers and groundwater through over-exploitation.
In the Green Revolution areas of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, groundwater
beneath the northern Indian states has decreased by more than 88 million acre-
feet during the past decade. That’s nearly eight times the amount held in Lake
Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States.
Source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010764/

Besides contributing to climate change and creating water scarcity, agriculture

systems based on external inputs of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers has other
ecologically destructive impacts, undermining food security. Plants take up very
small amounts of the synthetic nitrogen. The rest runs off, polluting ground
water and water bodies. Nitrate pollution of drinking water can cause serious
health problems including the potentially fatal blue-baby syndrome.
Source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/methaemoglob/en/

The excess nitrogen that runs off into waterways, creates massive “algal blooms”
of nitrate-fed algae which starve water of oxygen, suffocating fish and other
aquatic life and creating huge “dead zones” in lakes and oceans. The number of
identified oceanic dead zones has grown from 10 in the 1960s to 60 in 1995 to
405 in 2008. The Mississippi River fertilises a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico
measuring 6,474 square miles, the annual Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” covers an
area roughly the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
Source: http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/2015-dead-zone-gulf-of-mexico

5
Growing pulses organically as mixtures avoids all the above negative impacts
while contributing positively to our health and the health of the planet

Threats to diversity of pulses

Across the world there are new threats to the diversity of our pulses and edible
legumes. There are three steps through which pulses have declined in Indian
agriculture and in the diet of most Indians.

The first cause for erosion of pulses is colonialism.When the Europeans, specially
the British, colonized the world, they had no idea of the role of vegetable
proteins in the human diet. So when you read the English names of the
indigenous pulses of India,they are all referred to as animal feed. Tur or Arhar
becomes pigeon pea, gahat becomes horse gram, chana becomes chickpea, lobia
becomes cowpea. The devaluation of pulses in Agriculture and the diet was thus
a part of colonialism.

The next step of displacement of pulses from our farms, our plates took place
with the Green Revolution.

Our dal diversity was destroyed by the Green Revolution Monocultures based
on chemical rice and wheat.We have produced more rice and wheat, but our
pulses have disappeared from the monoculture fields. Between 1960-61 and
2010-2011 acreage under wheat has gone up from 29.58% to 44,5%,rice from
4.79% to 25%. Meantime area under pulses has dropped from 19% to O.21%,
oilseeds 3.9% to.71%, millets from 11.26% to 0.21%. When measured in terms
of nutrition per acre and health per acre, Punjab is actually producing less food
and nutrition as a result of the Green Revolution.

The Green Revolution is largely based on finding use for the war industry in the
post war era. And war chemicals became agricultural inputs. Plants were adapted

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to chemical agriculture. And with external inputs, monocultures of wheat, rice,
maize were promoted. Pulses disappeared from Green Revolution fields.
The third threat comes from the model of “Free Trade” and Globalisation which
has enabled global corporations to take over food and agriculture, from the seed
and our farms, to our kitchens and plates.
Free Trade agreements include introduction of patents and intellectual property
rights to seed, and the removal of trade barriers in the form of tariffs and
quantitative restrictions which protected domestic production. Since patents were
originally introduced through GMOs, free trade has meant the expansion of GM
soya monocultures and the emergence of monopolies.
Monocultures of GM Bt cotton and soya are displacing our pulses; 11.6 million
hectares of Bt-Cotton were planted in India in 2014. If pulses had been planted
on half this land, we would have had an additional 4 million tonnes of pulses
available. In 2014, 12.12 million hectares were planted with soya instead of
growing the 10 million tonnes of pulses we could have grown. Why
are we growing soya for export and importing the pulses we eat?
With the artificially created pulse scarcity, pulses have become
unaffordable for many Indians. This artificially created scarcity is being
used by the Government to import pulses from corporations like Cargill
- which has established a pulses desk in Delhi to focus on peas from
Canada, and also exports soya from India, turning a profit both ways.
The removal of quantitative restrictions and the scarcity created by
the neglect of production of pulses and plant proteins have also
encouraged subsidized duty free imports of inferior pulses, which are
further displacing indigenous cultivation of pulse diversity. Free Trade
has transformed India from being the biggest producer of a diversity
of pulses into the biggest importer

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And since the rest of the world does not grow the diversity of pulses we grow,
what is being imported cannot replace the diversity necessary for the Indian
diet. Large quantities of ‘yellow pea’ from US and Canada are imported at the
cost of billions of dollars. In 2012 the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
had audited the pulse imports and had questioned the repeated import of
‘yellow pea’ stating. “The MoCA and F&PD decided in 2008 that the agencies
need not go for further contracts of yellow peas, but the Union Cabinet in 2009
decided to allow the agencies to import these. The agencies continued to import
even when they had huge unsold stocks, resulting in a loss of Rs. 897.37 crore,
75 per cent of the total loss of Rs. 1,201.32 crore”.

But the loss is not only to the exchequer. Import of yellow pea translates into
importing nutritional deficiency for people and the soil, and decline in soil
health. In 2015-16 India plans to import more than 5 million tonnes of yellow
pea from Canada and US. Yellow pea has only 7.5% protein compared to
indigenous pulses having 20-30%. Importing 5 million tonnes of yellow pea
instead of growing our own pulses is thus importing a deficiency for Indians, of
1 million tonnes of protein. Not growing 5 million tonnes is depriving our soils
of more than 1 billion kg of nitrogen.
Source: https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/green-or-yellow-split-peas-dry-cooked?port
ionid=51928&portionamount=100.000

2016 is the International Year of Pulses. It provides an opportunity to remember

how important the diversity of our pulses are to the health of the soil and our
health. We need to rejuvenate the pulse of life on our farms and our thalis.

Rejuvenating the Pulse of life has become an imperative

for food sovereignty, the health of our soils and health of people,
for the conservation of the rich biodiversity of our edible
legume crops, and the cultural diversity of our foods.

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 Part 1

The Bio-Cultural
Diversity of Pulses
Illustration : Kaia Singh

9
The World of Pulses &
Edible Legumes
Overview

The Year of Pulses is a good opportunity to renew or get acquainted with this
important element of our food platter which is slowly but surely receding from
our memory in spite of its seminal potential to increase food and nutrition
security in times of climate change. This is therefore a time for us to remember
not only the forgotten diversity of pulses but also that of the other edible
legumes which are in fact disappearing even faster from our consciousness and
hence from our diets.

A pulse is a plant belonging to the legume family that comprises all plants growing
and maturing in a dehiscent pod containing one or several seeds and splitting
along the seams on two sides. Some legumes can have an indehiscent pod, as
for example the peanut. They are divided into three categories, beans, lentils and
peas as per their shape: beans are kidney-shaped, lentils are convex, like a lens
while peas are spherical. All legumes named peas do not however belong to the
pea family, Pisum sativum. The FAO uses the term “pulses” for crops harvested for
dry seeds. This definition therefore excludes green beans, such as French beans
and green peas such as the garden pea and mange tout, solely used when they

10
 are green and therefore considered as vegetables. However, as every thing in life,
contours cannot be sharply demarcated for some beans and peas such as lima
beans and pigeon peas are eaten both fresh and dried.

In India, which has an age-old food culture of vegetarianism, pulses, known

as dal, play an important role in providing a healthy and balanced diet. A
diversity of pulses are/were eaten, though today city people very often refer to
the “yellow dal” and the “black dal”, reducing the various legumes to a single
colour. In fact many of them, such as tur, the pigeon pea, urad, the black gram,
mung, the green gram, lablab, known as val papadi, kulath, aka gahath, the
horse gram, moth and navrangi, as also Bengal gram, chana, have their centre
of origin or domestication in India. Quaint stories are associated with some (see
cultural section) while others form part of festive foods (see culinary section).
The most commonly eaten dals are processed in a variety of ways: split, with
coat removed, for the traditional dal preparations, accompanying rice or rotis,
flat breads; fermented and ground with rice for dosai, pancakes and idlis,
steamed cakes, to name but some.

Also not included in the pulses category, yet playing a seminal ecological role
are crops used exclusively for soil cover such as clover or legumes used for oil
extraction such as soy and peanut.

Given the sterling role legumes, in all their forms, play as food, green
manure, fodder, cover plants, a deeper exploration of this plant family
cannot be ignored. Known as the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family, it
is subdivided into three sub family: a) papilionoideae (ex: lupines and
most edible pulse legumes), b) caesalpinioideae (ex: Tamarindus indica,
Senna, c) mimosoideae (ex: Calliandra haematocephala, the powder puff).
Powder puff

It is the 3rd largest family of flowering plants, counting between 18,000-

20000 described species and includes herbs, shrubs, trees and vines, across the
world, including tropical rain forests.

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Legumes, from the French “légume”, which in turn comes from the Latin
“legere”, meaning to gather, are of high antiquity. Their cultivation probably
goes back to the Bronze Age or even 8000 years ago as per archeological
evidence. In The Archeo-botany of Indian pulses: Identification, Processing
and Evidence for cultivation, D.A. Fuller and E.L. Harvey (2006) tell us
that pigeon pea has been found in two Neolithic sites in Odisha: Gopalpur
and Golbai-Sassan, dating between 3,400 & 3,000 years ago, as well as in
South India, in Sangera-Kallu and Tuljapur Garhi - dating back to 3,400
years ago.

Lentils are mentioned in the Bible and ancient Indian classical texts.There is
also evidence that legumes were known in Ancient Egypt where beans were a
symbol of life. Then again, already as far back as 300 BC, the Greek botanist
Theophrastus talks about how legumes reinvigorate the soil and could therefore
be used as manure. In fact, according to Ladock (2010), they were actually
used to enrich the poor soil of the Mediterranean region. In their essay/article,
Kimberly B. Flint and Hamilton say that Marcus Porcius Cato (234 BC - 149
BC) acknowledges the importance of legumes on a well functioning farm,
recommending the addition of at least “one Lupine vat (labrum lupinarium) as
part of the requisite equipment for olive groves and vineyards.” The authors go
on to say: “That a successful legume harvest was considered important can be
demonstrated by Cato’s recommendation that farmers offer incense and wine
to Ceres, Janug and Jupiter before the harvesting of beans.” If fava beans,
lentils and peas were known in the Old World since many centuries, remains
having been found in ruins of Troy and Pompeii, it is only in the 16th & 17th
centuries, post the Columbian era, that other beans as well as peanut, which
were known since ancient times in what we still call the New World, travelled to
Europe.

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This high antiquity points to the importance of legumes for the health of
our bodies as well as the health of soil. In Changing Roles for Legumes in
Mediterranean Agriculture: Developments from an Australian Perspective, J.G.
Hokinson, G.W. O’Hara, S.J. Carr say: “Legumes have been used since antiquity
as a primary nitrogen source across a range of agricultural and social settings.
The cool season pulses: Cicer arietinum (chickpea), Lens culinaris Medik (lentil),
Pisum sativum L. (field pea) and Vicia faba L. (faba bean) have for millennia
provided the major protein component in human diets in West Asia, North
Africa, the Indian sub-continent and parts of Central and South America.”

Generally speaking, legumes are rich in complex carbohydrates and dietary

fiber; fibers are known to assist intestinal transit and since they absorb water
in the stomach, they reduce hunger and create a feeling of satiety or what we
call tripti in India, thereby favouring weight loss. Legumes also have a low fat
content and are a good source of vitamins and minerals, in particular B group
vitamins as well as potassium and magnesium, iron, calcium, selenium (an
antioxidant which helps combat skin aging) and zinc, a mineral which supports
wound healing, protein synthesis, reproductive health, nerve function and brain
development. However, since legumes generally fall short of two of the nine
essential amino acids the body needs but cannot make, they must be consumed
in association with some cereals such as rice, wheat or corn, to complete the
full range. Combined with cereals, legumes are a good source of proteins; in
fact it is necessary to add legumes with other sources of proteins to complete
the required protein length. This fact was well known by the culinary wisdom of
various food cultures. For example, in India, dal chaawal (rice and dal) or dal
roti (dal and flat bread) have been our customary diet for times immemorial; in
East Africa it is rice and peanut that are combined. Similarly, in Mexico, maize
are complemented by beans and in North Africa, the famous couscous dish
combines semolina with chickpea.

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A word of caution here regarding the consumption of soy beans would not be
de trop: though it contains the full range of amino acids, its consumption is very
problematic and therefore this legume should be eaten only in its fermented
forms (see Glycine).

Given their remarkable nutritional profile beans, peas and lentils are actually
a storehouse of health benefits. To quote Rebacca Wood, in the new whole
foods encyclopaedia (p:30-31): “Beans and legumes strengthen the kidneys and
adrenal glands and therefore promote physical growth and development. As does
the protein in meat, bean protein builds body mass; but unlike meat, beans
don’t add cholesterol, saturated fat, or toxic nitrogen byproducts.” And an added
feather in the cap for legumes is the fact that for the same amount of protein
that meat can give, they need less acreage. Yet, the irony is that post 1914
there has been a decrease in legume intake while that of meat has substantially
increased. Similarly, as Vandana Shiva states in the introduction, in India due
to various distortions, the acreage under dal has also decreased, leading to
unhealthy substitutions such as i-dal.

It is therefore a very opportune initiative to have the Year of Pulses. In a feature

on pulses, carried in www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/343558/icode/, as part of the
Year of Pulses promotion, the organisation states:

“Low in fat and rich in nutrients and soluble fibre, pulses are also excellent for
managing cholesterol and digestive health; their high iron and zinc content make
them a potent food for combating anaemia in women and children. They are a
key ingredient in healthy diets to address obesity and to prevent and manage
chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary conditions and cancer.”

Depending on its colour, a bean benefits a particular organ: green ones, such
as mung, are good for the liver; red ones, like adzuki and kidney beans, act
upon the heart; yellow ones, think chickpeas and Bengal gram, are beneficial for

14
the spleen and pancreas; the white beans which include lima and navy beans
energise the lungs and the colon; the black beans are particularly supportive of
the kidneys (Wood,p.31).

Beans contain the phytochemical diosgenin, said to inhibit cancer cells from
multiplying. They also act upon the levels of serum cholesterol thereby offering
some protection to the heart.

Beans and other legumes have a low glycemic index, their sugars being
absorbed slowly, making them a diabetic friendly food.

Most members of the Fabaceae family, i.e. legumes, are a good source of
isoflavones, which help in the prevention of post menopausal cancer and heart
disease.

On the flip side, some concerns have been raised regarding the digestibility of
legumes, their tendency to cause flatulence as well as some anti-nutrients they
contain, some less, some more as in the case of soya. Let us look at some of
these elements, their actions and ways to deactivate them:

i) Lectins, present in legumes, interfere with nutrient absorption; they are,

however, normally deactivated by soaking, sprouting, cooking, fermentation
or heating (A.Pusztai,1991, cited by Tumwebaze Joel in Anti-nutrients in
Legumes and their Removal );
ii) Phytates/phytic acids: phytates bind minerals such as copper, iron,
magnesium, calcium and zinc. However germination and fermentation
help in substantially decreasing this anti-nutrient; soaking and cooking
too remove 50 to 80% of the phytate contained in legumes (Deshpande,
2002, cited by Tumwebaze Joel in above cited article). Since soya beans are
particularly high in phytic acid, in their case, deactivation is lesser except
when fermented (see Glycine).

15
 iii) Trypsin inhibitors: these inhibit the action of the enzyme trypsin which
together with chymotrypsin (protease) break down protein for absorption by
the body. Again, traditional methods of cooking mitigate their action.
iv) Raffinose oligosaccharides: their activity in the digestive system causes
flatulence, dyspepsia and constipation or diarrhea.
v) Polyphenols, as for example, tannins: they interfere with protein digestibility
and are found mostly in the seed coat. This is taken care of in India very
easily thanks to the Indian way of processing dal by splitting the seeds and
removing the coats. Moreover, the dehulled dal are eaten more regularly
than the whole, sabut ones, reserved for occasions.
Actually, some of the anti- nutrients such as polyphenols, also have a beneficial
action and eating of legumes has been a very ancient tradition, which has led
to the evolution of cooking practices ensuring pulses are prepared in beneficial
ways while minimising the unpleasant side effects. Indian cuisines, across regions,
resort to the utilisation of spices such as asafoetida, cumin seeds, pepper as well
as ginger, ingredients that help digestion and prevent gas formation. Traditionally,
all food cultures using beans and other pulses always soak them, sometimes
for several hours or overnight, throwing the soaking water more than once in
some cases. This method not only softens the pulse but also leaches out the
indigestible elements leading to gas formation. Soaking also activates enzymes
that break down complex carbohydrates into simpler and more digestible
starches. Again, this process eliminates the phytic acid of the beans making their
minerals more bioavailable. Some people add baking soda to soften beans, a
process which destroys B vitamins. We have already talked about how in India
various legumes are processed as dal whereby the seeds are split and the outer
coats are sometimes removed (we have chhilka wali dal and bagair chhilka wali
dal), the digestibility is thus further increased.

16
As per Ayurveda, legumes are astringent in taste and in the case of mung beans,
which are highly detoxifying, they tone up the digestive system. This apart,
legumes in general help to consolidate the seven types of dhatus (body tissues)
and more so the muscle tissue.

Our next section will present brief descriptions of pulses and other legumes.
Before this, some points need to be clarified. There could be confusion
arising from the fact that all erstwhile Asian Phaseolus species have now
been reclassified as Vigna: for example mung which is now Vigna radiata was
earlier Phaseolus aureus, a classification which may not have been corrected
in pubblications predating the change. For good measure, urad is classified as
Vigna mungo which again could lead to confusion. Then, the same appellations
are used for different species, as they refer to a utilisation: both Fava beans and
Jack beans are sometimes called horse beans and we have the Indian kulath
which is horse gram in English. Similarly, both Jicama (Pachyrhysus erosus) and
African yam bean (Sphenostytis stenocarpa) are called yam bean. We also have
the situation where legumes of the same colour as for example black soy, black
gram and black pea are confused for each other.

We hope that as we individually approach major pulses and other legumes

consumed in India and across the world, as well as some little known and
underutilized ones their multiple facets will be revealed so as to enable a better
comprehension of these most nurturing gifts of Mother Earth.

17
 The Legume Family
Third largest plant family on Earth
Leguminosae / Fabaceae
Õ Õ

Õ Õ

Õ Õ
1. Papilionoideae 2. Mimosoideae 3. Caesalpinioideae

1. ex: Pea (Pisum sativum), 2. ex: Koa (Acacia koa), Powder 3. ex: Senna (Cassia), Carob
Sweet Pea (Lathyrus puff (Calliandra calothyrsus), (Ceratonia siliqua), Tamarind
odoratus) Laburnum Touch me not (Mimosa pudica) (Tamarindus indica)

Mimosoideae:
80 genera and 3,200 species. Mostly tropical and warm temperate regions
of Asia and America (Mimosa, Acacia).

Caesalpinioideae:
170 genera and 2,000 species, cosmopolitan (Caesalpinia, Senna, Bauhinia, Amherstia).

Papilionoideae (Faboideae):
470 genera and 14,000 species, cosmopolitan (Astragalus, Lupinus).

Legumes: 700 genra; more than 1800 species; a simple dry fruit in a pod containing
several seeds and splitting along the seams on two sides
Papilionoideae is the largest family of legumes comprising 2/3rds of the legume family;
most edible crops belong to this group.
Legumes can be trees, shrubs or herbaceous plants, which can be annuals, biennials or perennials.
These can be either erect / upright or vines, climbing trees, poles, walls etc. and thus known as pole
or garden beans; they can have runners and grow prostrate on the ground. All wild beans
species and some domesticated ones have runners.

18
Most Prominently Cultivated Pulses

Pigeon Pea

Cajun cajanus
Names: (Eng:) Pigeon pea; (Hindi) arhar; (Guj:) tuvar, tur; (Tamil) togari;
(Kannada) thovari; (Tel:) kandalu; (Malayalam) tuvara; (Beng:) urur, orol;
(Fr:) pois d’angole; (Port:) guandu; (Spa:) gendul.

Antiquity and origin

Pigeon Pea, which is not really a pea, originated in India where it has been
growing for millennia as archeo-botanical evidence attests. In India, remains
of pigeon pea have been found at Bhokardan in Maharashtra, dating to the
2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. This apart, archeological remains have also been
discovered at two Neolithic sites in Odisha at Gopalpur and Golbai Sassan,
dating to 3,400 and 3,000 years ago. Sites of archeological evidence, going back
3,400 years ago, also exist in South India at Sangana Kallu and Tuljapur
Garhi (Fuller, D.Q & Harvey E.L.: 2006).
It reached Africa in 2000 B.C. or earlier, where a centre of diversity
developed in East Africa. Since the Europeans discovered it there,
pigeon pea was named Congo pea. From there, with the conquests
and as a result of the slave trade, pigeon pea reached the Americas. It
is now grown all over the tropical and subtropical regions of the world,
with the largest production coming from just six countries: India,
Myanmar, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Nepal.
The centre of origin of pigeon pea is disputed, with some scientists
placing it in Africa and others in the Indian sub-continent. However, in

19
the light of the very high diversity (probably the highest) of wild species as
well as domesticated ones in India and also given its wide spread culinary use
across India, in 1951, Vavilov placed the centre of origin of pigeon pea in India.
The scientist Vander Maeson too placed the centre of origin of this legume in
Eastern India where, in the state of Odisha, the closest wild relatives, (Cajanus
cajanifolia) are to be found in the deciduous woodlands.

Etymology & nomenclature

The botanical name Cajanus cajan is probably from the Malay cachang which in
turn must have been corrupted from the Telegu kandi.
Source: Lifting the Level of Awareness on Pigeon pea - A Global Perspective -by M.G. Mula
& K.B. Saxena (eprints icrisat ac.in)

The name pigeon pea comes probably from Barbados where the seeds of the
plant were used to feed pigeons. The Indian names arhar in North India and
tur in South India could be from Adhaki or Adhuki (in Sanskrit) and Tovorai
or Tuvari, meaning astringent in Sanskrit, respectively. The Portuguese guandu
and the Spanish gandul may probably have come form the Telegu kandulu.
According to M.G. Mula & K.B. Saxena, though Vander Maeson (1986)
recorded 350 names for pigeon pea, they have recorded 792 vernacular names
in 140 countries.

Cultivation

Pigeon pea is cultivated during the monsoons, under rainfed conditions, between
600-1400 mm. Since it is deep rooted it can seek moisture from the deeper
layers of the soil. Being drought resistant, it is considered to be an important
crop for small- scale farmers of the semi-arid zones; it is felt that the high
levels of protein and B vitamins of the legume can provide nutrition security to
subsistence level farmers.

20
 Currently, as per Masood Ali & Shiv Kumar (Pulses, p: 15, 2005), pigeon pea is
the 4th most important pulse crop in the world. It is, globally, grown on about
4.05 million ha, with a production level of 3.10 million tonnes of grains and an
average yield of 764 kg per ha.

Morphology

Cajanus cajan is an erect shrub up to 4 metres tall, with roots that extend up to 2 metres into
the soil. Its main stem is erect, ribbed and the plant has many secondary branches.
The leaves are alternate along the stems and are composed of three leaflets, positioned
alternately along the stem. The petiole (the stalk which connects the leaf to the stem) is
1-8 cm long and grooved above. The leaflets are elliptical to lance-shaped and are 2.5-13.5
cm long to 1-5.5 cm wide. The leaflets are green above and a silvery grey-green beneath
and are covered on their lower surfaces in small yellow glands.
The stalked flowers are arranged along an unbranched axis (a raceme). The racemes are
axillary. The flowers are yellow and are papilionaceous, typical of species belonging to
the Leguminosae subfamily Papilionoideae, and resemble, for example, the pea flower.
Each flower has 10 stamens, 9 of which are fused into a partial tube, with the tenth
stamen free. The ovary is positioned above the sepals, petals and stamens. The style
is curved.
The fruit is a straight or sickle-shaped pod 2-13 cm long x 0.5-1.5 cm wide containing up
to 9 seeds. The seeds are 4-9 mm x 3-8 mm and can be white, brown, purplish, black or
mottled.

Acknowledgment: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/cajanus-cajan-pigeon-pea

21
Uses
Pigeon pea has multiple uses:
For humans:
In India, pigeon pea is eaten both as a pulse, in the form of dal, for which
there are many recipes (see recipe section), prepared from the split seeds and as
a vegetable with the fresh young pods being used in various regional cuisines. In
South India, it is put in sambhar, a soupy preparation.
Ethiopian cuisine uses the pods as well as the young shoots and leaves.
Given its excellent nutritional profile, pigeon pea is a highly recommended food
to include in one’s diet.
According to Ayurveda, since Charaka (700 BC) the blood purifying property of
pigeon pea has been recognised. It is also deemed to be improving complexion.
Some traditional healthcare systems use the leaves to treat various illnesses such
as diarrhea, gonorrhea, measles, burns, gums, headache, etc.; roots are used for
cough and toothache.

Other uses:
As animal feed
Pigeon pea is also used for animal feed in the form of the dehulled
material left after dal has been processed. The seeds and seed pods are
also used as forage, especially for increasing milk in livestock and meat
in poultry (Duke 1981).
As green manure
Being a legume, pigeon pea has excellent nitrogen fixing properties,
providing up to 90 kg of nitrogen per hectare (Adu - Gyarrifi, 2007).
The leaves of the plant are good for mulching.

22
Miscellaneous
• The stems and branches of the pigeon pea plant have multiple uses: they
can be used as fuel, for fencing, as thatch and for basketry.
• The plant is also used in some places as a host for silkworm and for lac
producing insects.

17 cajanus species in india

13 wild species in australia
1 in Africa

Source: Indian Pulses Through the Millennia by Y.L Nene in http://asianagrihistory.org/articles/

Indian_pulses.pdf
http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/cajanus-cajan-pigeon-pea

Chickpea/Bengal gram
Cicer arietinum
Names: (Hindi) chana, kabuli chana, chhola; (Kannada) kadale; (Tamil:) kadalai;
(Tel:) sacagala; (Malayalam) kadula; (Beng:) but; (Urdu:) but; (Eng:) chickpea,
garbanzo, garbanzo bean, Bengal gram, Egyptian pea, (Fr:) pois chiche; (Arabic:)
hummus, hamezi.

Origin & antiquity

Chickpea is probably one of the earliest cultivated legumes, as evidenced by the

carbonized remains of chickpea from Cajoni in Turkey (Van Zeist, 1972) as well
as from Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria (Hillman, 1975).

Vavilov (1926, 1949) places the centre of origin in South West Asia and the
Mediterranean region whereas Ladinsky (1975) places it in South Eastern Turkey.

23
 Etymology & nomenclature
The etymology of chickpea goes to the French chiche from Latin cicer ; as for
the term garbanzo, it is directly taken from modern Spanish though in the 17th
century the term garvance existed in American English, as an alteration of the
old Spanish word arvanço.

Morphology
A slender, erect annual growing up to 100 cm tall, with simple or branched stems.
Extensive root system. Roots bearing nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria (including
Mesorhizobium ciceri and M. mediterraneum).
Divided into 5–7 pairs of leaflets. Leaflets up to 16 mm long and 14 mm wide with toothed
margins and weak, spreading, glandular hairs. Triangular stipules (leaf-like appendages) are
borne at the leaf base.
Typical pea flowers, up to 12 mm long, borne singly, with white or lilac to violet petals.
A small, inflated and rounded pod, up to 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, with glandular hairs.
Roughly spherical, with smooth or rough surface, up to 14 mm in diameter. Variable in
colour, usually creamy-whitish when dried. One or two seeds per pod.
Many cultivars of chickpea have been described. There are two main groups in cultivation:
• Desi (microsperma) cultivars – producing small, angular seeds with rough, yellow-brown
coats. The desi forms predominate in the Indian subcontinent, Ethiopia, Mexico and Iran.
They are often used for split peas (dal) or flour after the hulls are removed.
• Kabuli (macrosperma) cultivars - producing relatively large, plump seeds with a smooth,
cream-coloured coat. The kabuli forms predominate in Afghanistan through western Asia
to North Africa and in southern Europe and America (excluding Mexico). They are usually
sold whole.

24
Cultivation
Chickpea thrives in a sunny site in a cool, dry climate on well-drained soils. It is generally
grown on heavy black or red soils with a pH of 5.5–8.6. Frost, hailstones and excessive rain
can damage the crop. Some cultivars can tolerate temperatures as low as -9.5°C in the early
stages or under snow cover.

Acknowledgment: www.kew.org/scienceconservation/plants-fungi/cicer-arietimum-chickpea.

There are three main kinds of chickpea:

i) The ‘desi’ type, which is called kala chana in Hindi/Urdu and Bengal gram
in English; it has small, darker seeds than the whiter, bigger kabuli chana.
It is grown in India, the Indian subcontinent, Ethiopia, Mexico and Iran.
It is probably the earliest variety since it resembles seeds found both on
archeological sites and the wild plant ancestor, Cicer reticulatum. Its fibre
content is higher than the other varieties.

Within this there is also a “Bambai” variety, dark but larger than the “desi”.
ii) We then have the Kabuli variety, which is larger and much lighter in colour.
This variety grows mostly in the Mediterrannean region, Southern Europe,
Northern Africa, South America as well as the Indian subcontinent. The
name kabuli comes from the fact that it reached India via Kabul in the
18th century.
iii) The third variety, ceci neri, is larger and darker than the desi and only
grown in Aupulla, in South Eastern Italy.
This unusual legume, which has only one pea per pod, comes in a diversity of
colours: red, white, brown and black.
Source: Clovegarden

25
As far as cultivation is concerned, it is grown in tropical semi arid eco-zones
during the cool season. In India it is a rabi crop, grown after the rainy season.
Given its long tap roots which can penetrate deep into the subsoil to access
water, it is quite drought tolerant and therefore suitable for dry land or low
irrigation farming. Since it does not tolerate excessive moisture, it should be
grown on well drained soil.

Important chickpea growing countries include India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Burma

and Turkey. According to ICRISAT, quoting data from FAOSTAT database
(www.faostat.org), between 1994 and 2005 the global acreage under chickpea
was 10,7 million hectares. The ICRISAT analysis showed that between
1994-2006, “the overall growth area, production and productivity was almost
stagnant ranging between 9 to 12 million hectares 7 to 9 million tonnes and
713 to 802 tonnes per hectare.”
(Data from ICRISAT Nairobi: Menale Kassie, Bekele Shiferaw, Solomon Asfaw, Tsedeke
Abate, Geoffrey Muricho, Setotew Ferede, Million Eshete, Kebebew Assefa, www.icrisat.
org/tropicallegumes/pdfs/current-Situation.pdf.

Depending on the cultural practices and the seeds used,

the yield of chickpea per hectare can vary between 1.3 t per
hectare to 2.09 t per hectare as per data given in the
ejournal of ICRISAT by authors A. Ramakrishna, S.P. Wani,
Ch. Srinivasa Rao and U. Srinivas Reddy. (This study is
entitled Increased Chickpea Yield and Economic Benefits by
Improved Crop Production Technology in Rainfed Areas of
Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh, India). Others such as
Guriqbal Singh, Harbhajan Singh Sekhon & Jaspinder Singh
Kolar in Pulses have also indicated the potential yield of
5 t/ ha in sub tropical regions and 3 t/ ha with irrigation in
tropical regions.

26
Uses
For human consumption
The use of chickpea for human consumption goes back to 8000
B.C. since the time of the Rigveda. Already then, sattoo (see recipe
section), an extremely nourishing and nurturing food, made from
grinding roasted chickpea, barley or wheat into flour was commonly
used for sustenance. It would be mixed with milk or water and cane jaggery.
Sattoo continues to be a prized food in Bihar, for rich and poor alike. Its cooling
property continues to quench thirst during the scorching summer months. Susruta
(between 1200-1600 BC), considered to be the “founding father of surgery” and
to whom the treatise on surgery, the Sushruta Samhita is attributed, talks about
the various ways in which chickpea was consumed: the leaves as a vegetable,
the green seeds as well as the dry whole seeds and flour made from the dry
seeds. Today also in India we still consume chickpea in these various forms.

Though in the USA it is mostly known as an offering at salad bars, traditional

communities around the world have evolved many delectable recipes to include
this superfood in their diets. Think falafel, the mid-eastern chickpea patty,
besan chila, the Indian pancake, the eponymous Arabic humus, guasanas from
Mexico, the Algerian shepherds’ warming chakhchoukha, now popular in many
parts of Algeria; the Tuscan chickpea soup. Surprisingly, China too has a couple
of nourishing chickpea recipes from the Zhejiang region that may go back 250
years, according to Carolyn Philips who blogs at Madame Huang’s kitchen about
authentic Chinese cuisine.

Various culinary uses exist for chickpea, be they traditional or modern. For
example, given the rising trend of veganism, some chefs have experienced
with good results replacing eggs with chickpea-derived liquid, aqua faba, for
preparing mousse and meringue.

27
Health benefits
This cornucopia of dishes is a measure of the popularity of chickpea, which is
one of the healthiest foods available to us.

Traditional Indian systems of medicine and Ayurveda hold the chickpea, more
specifically Bengal gram, in high regard. Already in 700 B.C. Charaka mentions
that chickpea “soopah” is very nourishing and helps one to recover from spleen
and liver disorders (Vidyalankar, 1984 cited by Y.L Nene).

The malic and oxalic acid exudates from chickpea leaves have therapeutic values,
helping in digestion and acting as a coolant. They are sometimes crystallized and
used as vinegar.

Ayurveda considers the desi chickpea, as opposed to the kabuli one which
blocks the channels of the body, to be agneya, which means it not only boosts
the metabolism but clears ama, i.e. toxins. Its outer coat is replete with anti-
oxidants.

Two-thirds of chickpea’s fiber content is insoluble, a trait that helps digestion

and colon health. The insoluble fibers also create a feeling of satiety, which
promotes weight loss.

Its low glycemic index (gi) makes chickpea, specially the desi variety, a diabetic
friendly food: ¾ cup provides 25 gms of carb with a gi of 3.

It is replete with the goodness of all legumes: protein, vitamins and minerals
(see boxes) and supports the spleen-pancreas meridian, stomach and heart.

28
1 cup of cooked chickpeas contains 1 cup of raw chickpeas provides

Calories 269 Potassium 50%

Carbohydrate 45gm Vitamin A 2%

Proteins 15gm Sodium 21%

Vitamin C 13%
Dietary fiber 13gm
Iron 69%
Fats 4gm
Sodium 2%
Cholesterol 0gm
Vitamin B6 55%
Magnesium 57%
in terms of daily need

Additionally, chickpeas contain vitamin K, folate, phosphorus, zinc, copper,

manganese, choline and selenium.
Besides being an excellent vegan and gluten-free source of protein and fiber,
chickpeas also contain exceptional levels of iron, vitamin B6 and magnesium.
Given the excellence of its nutritional content and diversity of usage, chickpea
became an imperial choice (see culture section).
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280244.php?page=2

Miscellaneous uses

• The milled seeds, husks and green or dried stems as well as leaves of
chickpea are used for stock feed,

• Starch from the seeds is used for textile sizing giving a light finish to silk,
wool and cotton cloth (Duke, 1981 cited in https:/hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfact
sheets/chickpea.html).

29
Lentils
Lens culinaris Medik aka as Lens eschulenta
Names: (Eng:) lentils; (Fr:) lentilles, lentillons; (Port:) lentilla; (Swahili) medenga;
(Hindi/Urdu) masur.

Antiquity and origin

The deep antiquity of lentils is attested by architectural remains from Greece,

which go back to 11,000 B.C. However they do not clearly demonstrate
whether the seeds were of wild or domesticated origins. The first clear evidence
of lentils as a cultivated crop, according to Christopher Cumo (in Foods that
Changed History) comes from the remains of Jarno, In Iraq, ”where farmers
grew the legumes as early as 7000 BCE.” There is general agreement that
lentils have been around as a staple in Europe, the Middle East and India
since 8000 years.

This apart, there are references in the Book of Genesis as to the existence
of lentils and the high regard it was held in, as the story of Jacob and Esau
illustrates (see story in cultural section).

Lentils are said to have originated in the Near East (Zohary, 1972) and
spread to the Nile, Central Europe and the Indian subcontinent, reaching the
Mediterranean basin by the end of the Bronze Age (www.inspection.gc.ca). The
Spanish may have taken lentils to South and Central America and then before
World War - II it was introduced to USA, reaching Canada in 1969 (www.
inspection.gc.ca). Two centers of diversity exist for Lens culinaris, spp.orientalis:
south eastern Turkey and north western Syria being one; and southern Syria and
northern Jordan being the other (Lentil: An Ancient Crops for Modern Times; Ed;
by Shyam S. Yadav, David H McNell, Phillip C Stevenson).

30
 Etymology and Culture
The names lentil, lentille, lentilha: etc: are very clearly derived from
lens for obvious reasons related to the shape of the seeds. The
Hindi/Urdu word, masur is also related to the shape, coming from
the Sanskrit masura, meaning pillow. Lentils resonate with cultural
significance and have a rich history: they are the first pulse crop
mentioned in the Bible and are known to be part of the diet of
ancient Greeks, Romans and Jews. They played a particularly valuable
role as nourishment for the poor. In Egypt they had a deity, Horus,
dedicated to them.

Morphology
Lens culinaris is an erect, pale green annual herb up to 75 cm tall. Its main stem is square
in cross-section, and from it many branches extend.
The pinnately compound leaves are arranged alternately along the stem. Each leaf consists of
5-16 leaflets which are inserted along the leaf’s central axis (the rachis).
The stalked flowers are arranged along an unbranched axis. The racemes are about
7-flowered and axillary. The flowers are pale blue, white or pink and are papilionaceous,
typical of species belonging to the Leguminosae subfamily Papilionoideae, and resemble, for
example, the pea flower. Each flower has 10 stamens 9 of which are fused into a partial
tube, with the tenth stamen free. The ovary is positioned above the sepals, petals and
stamens. The style is inflexed and its inner surface is bearded.
The fruit is a 6-20 mm long x 3-12 mm wide pod containing up to 3 seeds. The seeds are
lens-shaped, 2-9 mm long x 2-3 mm wide and can be grey, green, brownish green, pale red
speckled with black or pure black in colour.
Acknowledgment: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/lens-culinaris-lentil

31
Cultivation and production
Lentils like sandy or clayey soils and grow in warm temperature and tropical
zones. They are grown as a summer crop in temperate countries with cold
winters and a winter crop in sub tropical areas where the farmers prefer to
cultivate them at higher elevations. The temperatures they grow in vary from
6º-27ºC; they do not like humid or hot tropical conditions, nor for that matter
do they like frost and intense cold. An annual rainfall below 750mm works well
for masur. They come in a range of colours going from orange, green, brown
and black, which are called Beluga lentils given their resemblance to caviar.

Production wise, lentils are the 5th most important legume grains in the world.
According to FAOSTAT, in the year 2013 the world production of lentils reached
4, 975, 621 metric tons, with the main production centers being Canada, India
and Turkey. India produces about a quarter of the world production, which it
consumes locally.

Uses
For human consumption
Lentils are an important component of the diet of several countries: in Iran,
where it is consumed in the form of a stew poured over rice, it is a prized food
item; in Ethiopia they are consumed in various forms: as a stew called kok or kit
wot; as paste from flowers, called azifa and elbet; as split seeds just boiled and
salted, nufro. It is also one of the first food Ethiopian mothers feed their babies.
In India, it is made into a pulao, a nutritionally perfect dish, combining the
protein of lentils with that of rice (see recipe section); it is however commonly
eaten as a dal. In many European countries, lentils are prepared as a salad.
Nowadays enterprising chefs have also used this ingredient to prepare shepherd’s
pie or burger patties, definitely an ecological choice given the low carbon

32
footprint of this version as compared to the meat one, specially the rain forest
eating McDonnald’s one. Apart from dry seeds, which are also processed as flour
for cakes and breads, fresh pods are eaten as vegetables.

The popularity of lentils as a food comes as no surprise given its high quotient
on taste as well as health; one of the easiest legumes for the stomach to digest,
it is also packed with all the goodness of its ilk; vitamins, proteins, minerals.
Here is a look at what one cup of lentils (198gm) offers:

For only 230 calories, one cup of Lens culinaris offers 18 gm of protein; 1
gm of fat; 40 gm of carbohydrate (which includes 16 gm of fiber and 4 gm
of sugar); 90% of our daily requirement of folate, 37% that of iron, 49%
that of manganese, 51% that of phosphorus, 22% that of thiamin; 21% that
of potassium and 21% that of B6, 28 % that of B1 (www.whfoods, for % of
daily requirement) you also get vitamin A, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid,
magnesium, zinc, copper and selenium. It is considered by many as possibly
the highest-ranking legume, (without controversy) for protein; since it does not
contain sulphur, it produces very little gas.

As per Rebecca Wood, lentils are mildly diuretic, good for the heart and the
circulatory system while also increasing kidney health. Being low on glycemic
index, they control blood sugar; they help to control cholesterol and lower
blood pressure.

In India, they are used as a poultice for sores as well as for retexturing the skin,
in the form of a paste to which milk has been added. As per Ayurveda, they
have blood purifying property and are highly nutritious.

33
Miscellaneous uses:
Animal feed: seeds and by products
Lentils are considered good feed for animals, specially poultry. Husks, bran and
dry leafy stems are used as fodder, specially in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Other uses include as green manure and as fuel from straw.
Here is a list of lentil diversity taken from Clovegarden:
• Black lentils also called Beluga lentils
• Brown lentils also called Brewer lentils, US Regular, Green lentils,
Continental lentils
• Egyptian lentils
• Masur
• Pardina lentils
• Puy lentils (French Green lentils; Verte du Puy)
• Red lentils
• Tarahumara Pinks

Pea
Pisum sativum
Names : (Eng:) garden pea, English pea, green pea, field pea; (Hindi) matar;
(Guj:) vatana.
According to archeological evidence from neolithic Syria, Turkey and Jordan,
peas date back to 7,000 yrs. They would have reached Europe already in the
Bronze Age and Egypt by 4800-4400 B.C. In India, the earliest reference to the
legume goes back to the dictionary Amarcosa (C.200 B.C.) by Amarsimha who
uses the Sanskrit name khandika or harenu. Varahamihira (6th Century A.D.) and
Bhavaprakash also mention the legume (16th Century A.D.).

34
 According to A. Pratap and J. Kumar, though the wild progenitor or early history
are unknown, Vavilov (1949) recognized Ethiopia, the Mediterranean and Central
Asian regions as the possible centre of origin.

The taxonomy of pea is highly complex and even debatable, as per Feedipedia.
We reproduce here what the site has to share on this matter:

Morphology
Pea taxonomy is complex and debatable. In particular, there is no authoritative and definitive
way to classify arvense (field) and hortense (garden) peas. They used to be considered
as separate species (Pisum arvense, Pisum hortense) but they are now seen as separate
varieties or subspecies of Pisum sativum (Pisum sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum var.
hortense,Pisum sativum subsp. hortense) or as separate varieties of the subspecies Pisum
sativum subsp. sativum (Pisum sativumsubsp. sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum subsp.
sativum var. sativum) (Martin-Sanz et al., 2011; USDA, 2011).
Acknowledgement: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/7047

As if this were not complex enough, the term pea is also used to describe other
legumes, which have a round, spherical shape: chickpea, pigeon pea, cowpea as
also sweet pea (Lathyrus spp: grown only as ornamentals).

As far as Pisum sativum is concerned, the plant can be both low growing or
vining and flowers can be of different colours (white, pink, purple), as per tannin
content. The white flowered peas have less tannin content. Many varieties of Pisum
sativum exist, some are winter plants, others grow in spring, some are leafy, others
leafless; seeds too come in a diversity of colours: green, yellow, pale green, brown,
mottled, even black. One must be careful not to mix up the yellow and black
variety with toxic vetches from the Lathyrus spp. Similarly, they can be thin or
thick hulled, smooth or wrinkled and of varying shapes and sizes. (Source: Feedipedia).

35
Garden peas are harvested green, to be eaten as a vegetable, whole (ex: mange-
tout) or just green seeds (garden peas); they are normally of the hortense type.
Field peas are harvested ripe and belong to the arvense type. They can be eaten
whole, split (as the Indian mattar dal) or ground into flour. They can also be
used as feed. It must be specified that “protein peas” are field peas, developed
from the hortense type.
Apart from these, there are peas such as the Austrian winter pea that are grown
essentially for forage purposes.
As far as their cultivation goes, peas can grow in different environments, on a
wide range of soils, which must be well drained, at heights ranging from
1800 to 3000 m. They thrive in cooler climates having a temperature ranging
from 7°C to 24°C and an annual rainfall in the range of 800-1000 mm.
They do not perform well in drought situations or at higher
temperatures.
As food, peas are very nourishing since they have the legume
nutritional profile. They are also said to be beneficial to the
liver, stomach, spleen and pancreas (Rebecca Wood).
As feed, they make an important contribution; seeds, hay and
by products can all the used.
On the field, too, they are beneficial in rotations with
cereals as they break the cereal disease cycles. They help
the weed controlling process and improve soil fertility
(Chittaranjan, 2007, in Feedipedia http://www.feedipedia.
org/node/264).
List of various pea varieties (Source: Clovegarden http://
www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bp_legumev.html).

36
 • Green peas: (English peas, garden peas) earlier a popular home garden plant,
today they have become a commercially grown one. Enjoyed in numerous
dishes across the world: in Indian curries, as soups, as salads etc.
• Kala vatana: black peas from India; not very common; specially eaten in the
Maharashtrian regions of India; not to be confused with black eyed pea or
black bean. They are more dark brown, mottled than black. Several recipes
exist. (Not to be confused with Lathyrus niger).
• Maple peas: black peas from England; also called Carlin peas or Brown Badgers
and sometimes pigeon peas (not to be mistaken with Cajanus cajan). Mostly
eaten in the Lancashire County of England, during fairs; sometimes served in
cups with a little vinegar. Found from October to November. A minor crop in
Canada. (Not to be confused with Lathyrus niger).
• Marrowfat peas: olive green peas, a little larger than green peas. Cooked as a
lumpy paste called “mushy peas” in Northern England; served with fish and
chips or in cups with mint sauce at fairs. Grown in a minor way in Canada.
• Snap peas: (sugar snap; Pisum macrocarpon). Eaten pods and all; these are
thick and round, different from the snow peas. Eaten raw or stir- fried.
• Snow peas: (sugar pea, mange-tout; also macrocarpon variety): eaten with pods;
harvested when pods are flat and seeds immature. Used mostly in stir-fries.
• Yellow peas: (Canada peas; Pisum sativum cultivars: Century, Lenca, Miranda,
Paloma). Lighter in colour than green field pea; grown more in northern
climates; Traditionally used in Scandinavian & French Canadian pea soups.
For the latter whole peas and not split ones to be used. Not to be confused
with the toxic Lathyrus aphaca, a non edible vetch.
Canadian yellow peas have been imported in large quantities by India, leading to
a non-savoury situation, in all aspects (see chapter on Disappearing Dal).
Sources: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/264
http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bp_legumev.html
Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes ed: by Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar

37
Peanut
Arachis hypogaea
Names: (Eng:) groundnut; (Hindi) mung-phali; (Por:) amendoim;
(German:) erdnuss.

The peanut, which is actually a legume, may have its centre of origin in
Paraguay or Bolivia. It has been cultivated since antiquity, by the Aztecs and
the Mayas. From South America, it travelled to Africa, Europe, Asia and North
America. It is said that in the 1900s, botanist George Washington Carver
mechanized the cultivation of peanut and developed hundreds of ways of
using it in food. This led to peanut becoming an important crop in the USA
(Rebecca Wood).

The plant has trailing stems that can grow up to 0.5 m long.
An unusual feature about it is that after pollination, the flower
elongates and forces the pod into the ground, from where the
name groundnut comes. In fact it is called a nut because though
other legumes store starch, the peanut stores fat, like nuts. The
oil content in peanut can be up to 50%. Unlike most legumes
the pod of peanut does not split open easily.

It is widely cultivated around the world both by small farmers

and as a cash crop given the various ways in which it is
processed. According to FAOSTAT (2011), nearly 23.95 million
ha worldwide is under groundnut cultivation, yielding 36.45
million tons, with China, India, Nigeria, USA and Myanmar
being the major growers.

Though peanut is a very nutritious food source, there are some

health concerns around it: it is one of the ten most common

38
food allergens; people who have a delicate liver and those who suffer from
cancer, gout or candida are advised not to consume peanut. In fact, Ayurveda
does not recommend it for any body type.

In spite of these reservations, peanut has several therapeutic values: it can help
lactating mothers increase milk; it promotes heart health and is a good source of
vitamin E, niacin, folate, protein and manganese.

There are multiple ways of consuming peanuts: boiled, roasted or fried as a

snack; in the form of the ubiquitous peanut butter; used as a base for various
sauces (Indian, Malay...); as brittles, called chikki in India and the list can go on
and on. Peanuts cannot be eaten raw.

Since peanut is a cash crop, there are a few precautions one must take while
purchasing it: given that it is heavily treated with chemicals, it is advisable to buy
organic peanut; since peanut oxidizes easily, it is better to buy the unshelled form.

The Phaseoli
According to P Gepts (www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/gepls/a/749.pdf), the
Phaseolus genus, on the whole, has 50 wild species, distributed only in the
Americas and there are 5 domesticated species which are, in decreasing order,
Phaesolus vulgaris, the common bean; P. lunatus L., the lima bean; P. coccineus
L., the runner bean; P. acutifolius A. Gray, the tepary bean and P. polyanthus
Greenmann, the year bean. The minor Phaseoli also feature here as they should
be promoted.

The Common Bean

Phaseolus vulgaris
Cultivars within this denomination: red kidney bean, Jacob’s cattle bean, anasazi
bean, black turtle bean, bolita bean, pinquito (pink bean), pinto, navy (white

39
bean, Boston bean, pea bean, haricot blanc), cannellini beans (white kidney
beans), cranberry beans, flor de mayo, great northern beans, string or snap
beans or green beans (yellow, green purple in colour), manteca beans (prim
bean); Peruvian bean (peruano bean, canaria bean, mayocoba bean, azufrado
bean); red beans, romano bean (Italian flat bean), nuna (popping beans);

Phaseolus vulgaris is the botanical name of a diversity of cultivars of the

common bean, as listed above. (list consolidated from Clovegarden & the
new whole food encyclopedia).

It counts many domestication sites ranging from the Middle to the Andean
South America (Harlan and de Wet, 1971; Gepts et al., 1986). According to
archeological evidence from South America, the domestication of P. vulgaris
goes back to 6,500-5,000 B.C. (Kaplan et al., 1973; Evans 1976) and probably
earlier, since according to Kaplan the earliest domesticated types, discovered in
deposits in Guitarreno Cave in Peru, go back to 7680-10,000
B.C. (Pulses p:125).

There are three main types of common bean: bushy, semi-pole

and pole types. They can be annuals or perennial, requiring
warm to cool temperatures and dry to wet conditions
(P. Gepts).

The average yield can be 700 kg/ha though, in some countries,

it could go up to 2000-3000 kg/ha.

40
Morphology
The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a major grain legume consumed worldwide for
its edible seeds and pods. It is a highly polymorphic warm-season, herbaceous annual. There
are 2 plant types: erect herbaceous bushes, up to 20-60 cm high; and twining, climbing
vines up to 2-5 m long (Ecocrop, 2013; Smoliak et al., 1990). It has a taproot with many
adventitious roots (Ecocrop, 2013). The stems of bushy types are rather slender, pubescent
and many-branched. In twinning types, the stems are prostrate for most of their length
and rise toward the end (Ecocrop, 2013). The leaves, borne on long green petioles, are
green or purple in colour and trifoliate. Leaflets are 6-15 cm long and 3-11 cm broad.
The inflorescences are axillary or terminal, 15-35 cm long racemes. The flowers are
arranged in pairs or solitary along the rachis, white to purple and typically papillonaceous
(Ecocrop, 2013; Wortmann, 2006). Once pollinated, each flower gives rise to one pod.
Pods are slender, green, yellow, black or purple in colour, sometimes striped. They can be
cylindrical or flat, straight or curved, 1-1.5 cm wide and up to 20 cm in length (Wortmann,
2006). The pods may contain 4 to 12 seeds. The seeds are 0.5-2 cm long, kidney-shaped
and highly variable in colour depending on the variety: white, red, green, tan, purple,
gray or black.
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/266

Common beans are an important source of proteins, minerals (iron and zinc)
and vitamins for many human populations (Beebe et al., 2000). Immature pods
are eaten fresh and can be easily preserved by freezing, canning or dehydrating.
Mature pods and seeds are dried. Beans are eaten boiled, baked, fried, or
ground into flour. Crop residues, such as dried pods and stems (straw) and
processing by-products (discarded pods, pod extremities), can be used as fodder
(Wortmann, 2006; CNC, 2004).

41
The common bean counts as the most important food legume worldwide and
is consumed in the form of dry seeds, seeds, green pods and for some cultivars
leaves as well.

Brief sketches of individual Phaseolus vulgaris cultivar:

• Anasazi bean: mottled, maroon and white; sweet in taste; compared to
other beans, easier to digest; containing 75% less of flatulence-causing
trisaccharides than pinto; (Rebecca Wood).
• Black turtle bean: native to Mexico; can replace pinto in any dish but will
leave black colour; sweet, spicy & robust taste; could be confused with
black soy but where black soy has a shiny appearance, the turtle bean is
dull. Good for soups and refried (Rebecca Wood).
• Bolita bean: predominantly pink but ranges from buff to yellow; irregular in
size and shape; is most probably an heirloom variety with high adaptability.
Richer and sweeter in flavor than pinto (Rebecca Wood).
• Cannellini beans (white kidney beans): Italian in origin; white, with creamy
texture; earthy taste; longer and lumpier than navy beans. (Rebecca Wood).
A highly popular bean in Italy; a recipe of Tuscan origin features in our recipe
section.
• Cranberry beans: same size and shape as pinto; beige with pinkish red
blotches when uncooked; turns uniform beige when cooked (Rebecca Wood).
• Flageolet: medium sized and kidney-shaped; pale green in colour. Primarily
cultivated in France and Italy; normally harvested and dried before it
reaches maturity; delicate and creamy flavour (Rebecca Wood).
• Flor de mayo: a native of Mexico; high taste and texture quotient, variable
in colour: mottled purple, tan or light brown; (www.clovegarden.com).
• Great northern beans: a medium size white bean, resembling navy bean;
used in baked beans or pork and bean dishes; (Rebecca Wood).

42
 • Green bean: comprising the following varieties: filet bean, French bean,
haricot vert, snap bean, string bean, wax bean; the pod of green beans
is normally green but there are varieties which are purple or yellow (wax
bean); heirloom varieties which have a fibrous string along the length of
the pod seam are called string beans; modern cultivars are stringless; can
grow on bushes or twine on poles.
Green beans have multiple health benefits: they tone the spleen-pancreas
meridian and kidneys; they are diuretic and diabetic-friendly. From an Ayurveda
perspective, they are tridoshic. They provide vitamins A, B-complex as well as
calcium & potassium (Rebecca Wood).
• Manteca beans (prim bean): Manteca dry beans have been growing in
Chile for a long time; they are reputed to be less gaseous; Dr Colin
Leakey of U.K. is said to have developed a hybrid variety which can grow
outside Chilean eco zones so they are now
available in U.K. The regular ones are also
available in California (www.clovegarden.
com).
• Navy: (white bean, Boston bean, pea bean,
haricot blanc): smaller than great northern
bean but similar in flavour; can be eaten
as a green vegetable when immature
(Rebecca Wood). Clove Garden site
lists pea bean under navy bean but
pea bean can also be red-brown.
Pea bean is sometimes listed as Phaseolus
aegypticus but as per Wikipedia there is
horticultural consensus about placing it in
P. vulgaris.

43
• Pink bean: (also known as pinquito): an heirloom bean from Mexico; sweet
and meaty taste; similar size as navy bean (Rebecca Wood).
• Pinto: the famous bean for tacos; a family of kidney bean; colour is buff
to pink; according to Rebecca Wood since its hybridization for high yield,
heirloom varieties of this bean are less preferred. Highest production after
soya in USA. (Rebecca Wood).
• Jacob’s cattle bean: (Dalmatian bean, trout bean): has a creamy white
background with one large purple blotch and numerous purple speckles. A
New England heirloom variety; excellent flavour; kidney shape; similar to
ansazi bean (Rebecca Wood).
• Peruvian bean (peruano bean, canaria bean, mayocoba bean, azufrado
bean): a medium size white bean with a yellow greenish cast; smooth,
shiny and plump seed; very creamy texture; (www.clovegarden.com).
• Red kidney bean (Mexican bean, Spanish Tolosana): name from its kidney-
like shape, full-bodied flavor; creamy texture.
• Red beans: this refers to any of the various red varieties of the common
bean and includes kidney bean, Honduran red bean and Salvadoran red
bean including Indian chori bean.
• Romano bean: (Italian flat bean): Romano beans are often sold as green
snap beans in North America; yellow & purple varieties also exist, flavour
wise it is somewhat different from round and flat string beans; should not
be overcooked. (www.clovegarden.com).
• Nuna or popping beans: are so called because they pop when heated for
a few minutes in a hot skillet or air popper; bright in colour; have a hard
shell; taste like roasted peanuts but are soft. Limited availability outside
Andes. (Rebecca Wood).

44
Nutritional Analysis* of Selected Dry Beans Compared with a Reference Diet
Serving Size  =  ½ cup

Saturated Total
Calories Total Fat Fat Trans Fat Choiesterol Sodium Carbohydrate Fiber Protein Iron Folate
(kca/) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (mg) (g) (g) (g) (mg) (mcg
DFE)
Reference 2000 Less than Less than Minimize Less than Less 300 25 50 18 400**
Diet (Food 65 20 in diet 300 than
Label) 2,400
Pinto 122 0.5 0.1 0 0 1 22.4 7.7 7.7 1.8 147
Navy 127 0.5 0.09 0 0 0 23.7 9.6 7.5 2.2 127
Black 114 0.5 0.12 0 0 1 20.4 7.5 7.6 1.8 128
Great 104 0.4 0.1 0 0 2 18.7 6.2 7.3 1.9 90
Northern
Cranberry 120 0.4 0.1 0 0 1 21.6 8.8 8.3 1.8 183
Pink 126 0.4 0.1 0 0 2 23.6 4.5 7.7 1.9 142
Red Kidney 112 0.4 0.08 0 0 2 20.2 6.5 7.7 2.6 115

Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.
*All nutrient values per ½ cup, cooked, boiled, without added salt
**400 mcg DFE (dietary folate equivalents) per day is recommended dietrary allowance (RDA) for adult men/women (not pregnant or
lactating)

Tepary bean
Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray
Names: (Eng:) tepary bean, Texas bean; (other languages) yori nui, yorimuni,
pawi, pavi, escomite; called tepary bean in Hindi as well.

Origin & antiquity

Archeological evidence attests to the high antiquity of Tepary bean in the South
West of USA where it must have come from Mexico about 1200 years ago, as

45
well as in Puebla where its cultivation goes back to 5,000 yrs. (Source: Bean www.
purdue.edu, Debouck). The centre of domestication of this legume is not known
though it is deemed a native of S. Western USA & Mexico. Two wild varieties
exist: (var: acutifolius and var: tenuifolins).

The name Tepary is said to come from the phrase t’pawi which means it’s a bean
in the Tohono O’odham language. Other names such as yorimuni & yori mui would
indicate a “non-Indian” origin according to Feiger and Moser (cited in Wikipedia).

This legume is a drought resistant legume, growing in the desert and semi-desert
regions, from Arizona to Costa Rica. It is also cultivated in African countries, India,
Asia and Australia. It requires less than 400 mm annual rainfall to grow, though
during germination a lot of moisture is needed. It is sensitive to flooding and water
logging. The crop matures within 75-85 days depending both on cultivars/varieties
and location. One can obtain seed yields of 500-800 kg/ha without irrigation and
900-1700 kg/ha with irrigation (Jansen, 1989). It is normally grown in association
with maize, on the borders of fields, in some areas. It is also grown as a catch crop
requiring very little weeding. Soil wise it grows on well- drained sandy or muddy
soils or sometimes organic ones.

The plants exist in both bushy and semi-vining forms, with heights averaging at
75 cm. Pods are about 8 cm long and contain between 5-6 seeds. Seeds are of
two types: small, round seeds which are either white or black and larger ones,
of rhomboid shape, which come in a range of colours; white, greenish white,
gray, yellow, mahogany, black, violet speckled, brown.

Paradoxically on one hand there are some factors which

led to the marginalisation of this plant while on the other hand,
peasant communities have preserved it because it is a low
maintenance crop, requiring little water and resistant
to diseases, while maturing early (Debouck).

46
Uses
For human consumption
The dried seed is consumed for its high protein level, sweet and nutty flavour and
creamy texture. It cooks faster than many other beans and has a taste quite of its own.

As feed
Leaves, stems and green pods are used for livestock. Tepary bean has a potential
for increased cultivation given its high culinary quotient and undemanding
requirements.

Runner bean
Phaseolus coccineus
Names: (Eng:) Runner bean, scarlet runner bean, pole
beans, Oregon lima bean; (Nahuati) ayocoti; (Spanish)
ayocote; (Clovegarden); (Hindi) sem.

P. Coccineus, the scarlet runner bean, is of high

antiquity. Archeologically it has been found only in
Mexico (Durango) and Puebla. Its wild species occur
only in Tamaulipas (Debouck, cited in hortpurdue.
com). Growing for centuries in the highlands of
Mesoamerica, it was cultivated extensively by the
Anahuac people. However, changes in maize cultivation
(introduction of softer varieties, use of fertilisers etc.)
have now marginalised the crop in eastern Guatemala and Costa Rica. Further
marginalisation is due to market forces favouring crops like vetch, broad bean,
cabbage, garlic & onion.

47
The legume must have reached southern Columbia and Europe (where it is also
known as haricot d’Espagne), in the 17th century, before reaching elsewhere in
the world (ex: Ethiopian highlands).
Acknowledgment: hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1472

Uses
Human consumption
Though very often scarlet runner bean is cultivated as an ornamental plant,
especially in North America, it was / is consumed as food. Its popularity has
decreased in Latin America, compared to pre-Columbian times for various
reasons as stated above but the many coloured seeds as well as the flowers and
edible roots are eaten. The roots in fact have medicinal value. The green pod
too is used as vegetable in many parts of the world. Very often it is grown in
vegetable gardens. The little known runner bean is an underutilised plant.

Lima bean
Phaseolus lunatus (earlier referred to as P. limensis)
Names: large seeded variety: (Eng:) Madagascar bean, fordhook bean, grandma’s
bean, haba bean, Chad bean, pallar bean, Java bean.

Small seeded variety: (Eng:) sieva bean, butter bean, baby lima, Dixie speckled
butter bean; (Hindi) rangooni val, val.
(Source: the new whole foods encyclopedia Rebecca Wood, www.clovegarden.com).

According to the site Ch08 of FAO, there exists two main genetic stocks for P. lunatus,
coming from two separate wild forms. There are two seed sizes: the larger one and
the smaller one. According to archeological findings in Ancash, Peru, the large-
seed variety was the first to be cultivated about 8,000 years ago and appeared
5000 years ago on the coast of Peru, where they were culturally and nutritionally

48
important for the Mochican and Nazca people. The small-seeded variety originated
in the Mesoamerica region and date back only 1,200 yrs. (Source: Ch08).
The wild forms of P. lunatus, both small and large types, are to be found only
in the Americas though today the cultivated forms are present in all tropical
regions of the world and even in Italy.
The various names of Lima beans reflect the diversity of its provenance and
sometimes refer to its taste. The term Lima beans actually points to its centre of
origin, believed to be Peru.
This bean comes in a range of colours going from cream and white to tan to
purple-tan, mottled, green, brown and black. The pod is flat, oblong and slightly
curved (about 3 ins in length) and contains in general 2-4 flat kidney shaped
seeds. Plants can be both annual or perennial, bushy, erect type or twining,
pole type. The erect ones grow up to 1 metre long while the twining ones can
attain 4 metres. Their leaves are trifoliate and compound, with oval leaflets. The
flowers are white to yellow, growing in clusters of racemes, which are loose and
unbranched (source: eol.org).
Temperature wise, lima beans require a long, warm growing season (between
16°-27°C). Temperatures below 13°C slow the growth. The large seeded ones
are more temperature sensitive than small ones. The bush varieties grow
between 65-100 days whereas the large seeded ones require 200-270
days. As far as rainfall is concerned, they thrive best in humid and
sub-humid tropics with an annual fall ranging between 900-
1500 mm. It could also grow with only 500 mm with top
up irrigation, especially during flowering and pod setting
stages. (Tony Winch).
Soil wise the plants like a well aerated and well drained soil
but can do well in soils that are too acidic for the beans.

49
Uses
For human consumption
Lima beans have been used as food since 5000 BC (N. Haq in Biology &
Breeding of Food Legumes). Leaves, pods and green seeds are used as vegetable
and the matured, dried seeds are used in various ways: soups, curries, stews…;
flour made from the seeds is used to prepare noodles.

Medicinal use
Both leaves and seeds of the plant have therapeutic value. According to Rebecca
Wood, lima beans are beneficial to the liver and lungs. It is anti-acidic. From the
Ayurveda perspective, they reduce pitta and kapha.

Other uses
Lima bean plant can be used as cattle fodder as well as for green manure and
as a cover crop.

Year bean
Phaseolus polyanthus Greenmann
Names: (Eng:) Year bean; (Fr:) haricot cacha, cache.
The Phaseolus polyanthus Greenmann is not a very well known legume of the
Meso-America and Northern Andes region (Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuala,
Columbia, Ecuador and Peru, Debouck et al., 1990; Schmit, 1992), where it
grows in the humid tropical highlands. It is also found in the highlands of East
Africa (Debouck: personal comment). It has been of late marginalised because
of the change in agricultural practices of growing maize, with which it is
intercropped frequently as also with gourds and Phaseolus coccineus, the runner
bean. Other factors of marginalisation are the plantations of coffee and livestock
rearing. Moreover, the distribution area of the wild form in Central-Western
Guatemala, the only site of occurrence, is being threatened both by urbanisation

50
 and agriculture as primary forests where it grows are being cut down to set
up coffee plantations. It therefore becomes urgent, as the site from which this
information is sourced points out, to complete the collection of germplasm,
(Source: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/beans.html.).

No recordings of this legume exist archeologically, which could be due to the fact
that the conditions under which it grows are not conducive to its preservation.
However, it is felt that this legume must be ancient. This Phaseolus species is the
least evolved of all Phaseoli. There are some natural hybrids with P. coccineus
in Putomayo, Columbia and P. vulgaris in Tolima, Columbia. This leads to the
existence of a variety of colours in the seeds, which though normally of an orange
hue, are also found in reddish brown, black or creamy white. This last colour,
according to hort.purdue.edu, offers an interesting potential of development, as a
competition to the caballeros (P. vulgaris) having white large and round seeds but
which do not grow in humid areas as P. polyanthus Greenmann does. This legume
grows up to 800-2,600 m under cool and humid climate. Flowering takes 2-5
months and it can have two flowering and fruiting seasons under high rainfall in
Columbia and Venezuela. It requires deep, organic soils that are humid and well
drained and can tolerate shade moderately.

Morphology
Only pluriannual forms of P. polyanthus are known, which can live from two to four years.
In drier parts (for example, western Cajamarca, Peru); it tends to behave as an annual. It is
easily distinguished from the other species by its epigeal germination; fibrous, fasciculate roots;
inflorescences with 6 to 16 fruit-bearing stems; primary bracts and long, narrow bracteoles
(giving the pseudoraceme the appearance of a spike); white or lilac flowers (purplish pink in the
wild form); and terminal stigma. Its seed (70 to 100 g per 100 seeds for cultivated varieties and
16 to 25 g for wild forms) has a wide, elliptical hilum and the parahilum is frequently broken.
Acknowledgment: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/beans.html.

51
As far as human consumption goes, it is eaten more in the green form though
dry beans are also consumed as soups, stews or even a sweet dish in Amazon.
It is said that dry P. polyanthus Greenmann has a higher content of sulfur-
containing amino-acids than P. vulgaris (Schmit, 1992; Baudoin & Maquet, 1999,
cited in www.academia.edu:Regeneration of fertile plants from callus in
P. polyanthus Greenmann).

The Vicia genus and vetches

The Vicia genus contains approximately 160 species with V.faba being a major
pulse and some vetches being used for human consumption in a minor way.
Vetches are extensively used as cover crops, forage, hay, silage, erosion control
and green manure. The genus is distributed across Europe, the Americas, Asia &
Africa. Both prominent and minor Vicia crops are featured here to
form one cluster (source: kew.org).

Most vetches belong to the Vicia genus though some of them are
not part of the this genus as for example Lathyrus sativus, L. cicera
(chickling vetch/pea), L. latifolius (bitter vetch) and Astragulus
diffusus (milk vetch). Some vetches produce edible seeds and pods,
most famously Vicia faba. Vetches are also used as forage and green
manures as they are great soil restorers, like most legumes. They also
have the capacity to attract beneficial insects and can be used as
ground cover as well.

Vicia sativa, the common vetch, features in the FAO list of eleven
important pulse crops. It is also known as tare, the vesce and
the garden vetch in English. As per Feedipedia, there are many
synonyms for it, a list of which follows:

52
 Names: (Eng:) vetch, tare, the vesce, garden vetch; (Fr:)vesce commune, vesce
cultivée; (Spanish) veza, alverja común; (Por:) ervilhaca; (Dutch:) voederwikke;
(Gr:) Futterwicke, Saatwicke; (Italian) veccia comune.
Source: www.feedipedia.org/node/239

Other Vicia species which are used as feed are: the hairy vetch (Vicia villosa),
purple vetch (Vicia benghalensis), narbon vetch (Vicia narbonensis) and broad
bean (Vicia faba).
Vicia sativa, which originated in southern Europe, is now widely cultivated in the
Mediterranean basin, West and Central Asia, China, Eastern Asia, India and the
U.S.A. It can grow on a large variety of soils (sandy, loamy, clayey), preferably
well drained. In the early stages it is not drought tolerant and grows in areas
having an annual rainfall of 310 mm to 1630 mm.

Morphology
The common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) is an annual scrambling and climbing legume. It has
a slender highly branched taproot that can go down to 1-1.5 m deep. Its stems are thin,
angled, procumbent and branched, reaching up to 2 m. The leaves are compound with 3-8
pairs of opposite leaflets and 2-3 terminal tendrils that help climbing. The leaflets are elliptic
or oblong, 1.5-3.5 cm long, 5-15 mm wide. Stems and leaves are mainly glabrous. The
flowers, borne on leaf axils, are blue to purple, sometimes white, mostly paired, sometimes
unique. Pods are cylindrical, 3.5-8 cm long and erect; with 4-12 round, but flattened, black
to brownish seeds (FAO, 2010; UC SAREP, 2006; Sattell et al., 1998).
Vicia sativa provides palatable forage (fresh, hay and silage) and grain to livestock. Due to
the presence of antinutritional factors, seeds may be used only in small amounts in the diets
of monogastric species (including humans). Common vetch also provides a valuable cover
crop and green manure (Sattell et al., 1998).
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/239

53
Fava bean
Vicia faba
Names: broad bean, horse bean; tic bean, fava bean, field bean, bell bean.

According to A. Pratap and J. Kumar, there are divergent views about the origin
& domestication of faba bean, with earlier studies postulating the Near East as
the centre of origin (Cubero 1973, 1974) from where, through various possible
routes, it could have travelled to Spain and Europe, along the North African
coast, to Ethiopia along the Nile, to India via Mesopotamia; while later studies
suggest Central Asia (Ladinsky, 1975) or south-eastern Europe and south-western
Asia (Muratova, 1931; Maxted, 1995).
Vicia faba comes in three different sizes:
• Vicia faba minor (small), called tick bean and field bean;
• V. faba equine (medium), called horse bean;
• V. faba major (large), called broad beans. There is also a special variety,
very important in Egypt called ful beans (Vicia faba/Faba sativa), used to
make its prized dish, ful medames.
Small seeds occur importantly in northern Europe whereas the medium ones
grow in the Middle East as well as North Africa and the broad ones in Southern
Europe and areas of China (source: Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes
ed: by Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar). In India, fava bean is cultivated in
a small way.
Vicia faba grows well in cooler temperatures and can withstand harsh winter
conditions. It can grow in various soil types: clayey soils, soils with high salinity,
thriving in rich, loamy, well-drained soils.

54
Morphology
Vicia faba is an erect, robust annual herb growing up to 2 metres tall. It has a stout, square
stem, which is hollow and has additional basal branches. The plant has a well-developed
taproot with strong lateral roots.
The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem; each leaf is paripinnate (terminating in
a leaflet pair), composed of 2-6 leaflets. Faba bean has conspicuous stipules (appendages
at the base of the leaf) which are toothed at the margins and vary widely in shape. The
leaflets are ovate to elliptical and are up to 10 x 4 cm in size.
The stalked flowers are arranged on a raceme, ie an unbranched axis. The racemes are
short, 1-6 flowered and axillary. The flowers are fragrant, the petals white, the outermost
petal (the standard) marked with a central, basal, dark brown or black blotch, and are
papilionaceous resembling, the pea flower. Each flower has 10 stamens, nine of which are
fused into a partial tube, with the tenth stamen free. The ovary is positioned above the
sepals, petals and stamens. The style is approximately 3mm long and is abruptly upturned,
with a tuft of hairs near the stigma.
The fruit is a narrowly oblong, cylindrical to a laterally flattened pod up to 30 cm long
containing up to 6 seeds. The seeds are 1-3 cm in diameter and are ovoid to oblong in
shape and compressed. The colours of the seeds range from brown to reddish or green.
Acknowledgment: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/vicia-faba-faba-bean

Vicia faba is not crossable with any other Vicia species (Lawes, 1980 cited by
K B Wangari in Pulses, ed. by Guriqbal Singh, Harbhajan Singh Sekhon, Jaspinder
Singh Kolar).

Vicia faba has multiple uses: as food for human consumption, as feed for
livestock, as an agricultural input in the fields (green manure, crop rotation etc.).
Its use to prepare biofuels in Sweden has also been reported.

55
Fava beans pose certain concerns in their use as food and feed: the presence
of anti-nutritional elements in the legume such as tannins which reduce protein
utilization and the glycosides vicine and convicine, which can cause favism
in humans lacking the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Various
methods to deactivate/mitigate the anti-nutrients in legumes exist (see story of
Pythagoras in cultural section)

As far as feed is concerned, according to Feedipedia, the small seed variety

of Vicia faba is lower in tannins and vicine and convicine; they are, therefore,
preferred as feed.

Fava is among one of the most ancient cultivated food plant in the world. The
earliest relics of the legume were found in Jericho, dating back to 6250 B.C.
(Hopf (1969) cited by H.B. Wanjari in Pulses). In various parts of Europe, relics
going back to the Iron Age have also been found (Rebecca Wood). Fava beans
were the mainstay in Europe in pre-Columbian times. They are an important
component of the cuisines of Mediterranean and North African regions. The dish
shiro wot, in Ethiopia, falafel in several Mid-eastern countries and ful medames
in Egypt, all use fava bean as the main ingredient.

Fava beans have an earthy flavour and are usually peeled before use, especially
the mature ones.

Despite the concern of favism, this legume offers some medicinal uses too.
Rebecca Wood states that it tones up the spleen-pancreas and kidney meridians;
moreover it improves blood circulation. J.M. Rabey et al., have reported on
the positive effects of consumption of fava in patients affected by Parkinson’s
disease.

Regarding its other uses, as feed for animals, fava is preferred over soy. It offers
good quality silage. In Egypt and Sudan fava straw is a preferred cash crop
(source: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/4926).

56
On the fields too, fava bean has a very beneficial effect. It works very well as
a green manure, especially for maize and vegetables. In a crop rotation system
with wheat, it is said to have improved the protein content of wheat not only
by fixing nitrogen but also by controlling some diseases such as crown rot and
nematodes. (Source: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/4926).
So do yourself, your animals and your fields a fava!

Vigna
There are approximately 104 species listed under Vigna with some being major
pulses, vegetable, fodder and green manure crops. Asian Phaseoli have been
reclassified as Vigna. The Vigna genus has a pan-tropical distribution. Both major
and underutilised Vigna species feature in this cluster.

Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis
Names: (Eng:) adzuki bean, azuki, aduki; (Guj:) chori.
Adzuki bean probably originated in the Far East but is
now grown throughout East Asia, India, the U.S.A., South
America, Angola, Zaire and New Zealand. It can grow both in
temperate as well as sub-temperate climates.
This annual plant grows erect and/or as a bush; it is normally
30-90 cm tall. The flowers, which are bright yellow, grow in a
cluster of 6-12. It has cylindrical pods that are 6-12 cm long
and contain 4-12 seeds. The temperature range for its growth
is 15-30°C; as far as rainfall is concerned, it can grow under
500-17,000 mm of precipitation. Soil wise too, it can grow on
various soil types: from light to heavy clay; however it does
not perform well on highly acidic soils (source: N. Haq, Biology &
Breeding of Food Legumes).

57
Though young beans are eaten as vegetables, it is mostly prized for the seeds,
especially in Japan where it is considered to be the “king of beans”. In Japanese
and East Asian cuisines, the beans are mostly prepared sweetened in various
desserts. In India, Gujrat, where it is known as chori, it is used as a dal
type curry.

The seeds are said to have medicinal properties: according to Rebecca Wood,
the adzuki beans purify the kidneys and have diuretic properties. This effect is
reinforced if the beans are cooked with sweet rice or if the liquid from cooked
beans are drunk 20 minutes before a meal. The beans also reduce vata, pitta
and especially kapha.

Adzuki is used as forage and as green manure too in China and Japan.

The adzuki bean is a short duration crop which is often grown with rice bean in
mixed cropping.

According to N. Haq inter cropping with cereal crops can make adzuki more
attractive economically. It is currently underutilised.

Black gram
Vigna mungo
Names: (Eng:) black gram; (Hindi); urd, urad, (Tamil) ulunthu; (Telegu)
uddinabele; (Gujarati) adad; (Oriya) biridali; (Bengali) mashkalaidal; (Nepali)
maash; (Fr:) haricot urad ou soja noir; (not to be confused with Glycine soya)

Antiquity & origin

The centre of origin of black gram is indisputably India, where it was
domesticated from its wild form, Vigna mungo var. silvestris (Lukoki, Maréchal
& Otul). Its centre of diversity is also India. Many authors have referred to

58
the high antiquity of this pulse. According to some archaeological evidence,
urad bean may have already been in use around 1660-1440 BC (Mittre, 1974
in Biology & Breeding of Food Legumes). In Essays in Indian History: Towards
a Marxist Perception, the historian Irfan Habib mentions that “two pulses, gram
and khesari, also appear along with black gram” in the Indus Basin, around
2000 BC. In Indian Pulses through the MiIllennia, Y.L Nene reports that black
gram, known as mash in Sanskrit, has been mentioned in the Brahadaranyaka,
dating to 5500 BC as well as the Mahabharata around 2000 BC.

Etymology & nomenclature

The botanical appellation of black gram, Vigna mungo, is viewed as slightly

problematic since it can be confused with mung beans (Vigna radiata) which it
resembles to the extent of appearing as a variant of a single species. (Verdcourt,
1970 in Biology & Breeding of Food Legumes), a confusion dispelled by Watt &
Marechal (1977) (Biology & Breeding of Food Legumes).

Cultivation

Black gram is a warm weather crop, growing in areas

receiving an annual rainfall ranging from 600-1000
mm. It often forms part of a mixed cropping system
with cereals, especially rice so as to conserve soil
nutrients and use leftover moisture. It grows well in
water retentive soils but not saline or alkaline ones.
It is normally cultivated during the rabi or late
rabi season in India, which is the largest world
producer and consumer of this legume, with a
1.5-1.9 million tons annual production on 3.5
million hectares.

59
Morphology
Black gram (Vigna mungo L.) belongs to the Fabaceae or Leguminosae family. It has a tap
root system. Stem is slightly ridged, covered with brown hairs and much branched from the
base. Leaves are large, trifoliate and hairy with purplish tinge. The leaflets are 5-10 cm long
and ovate. Inflorescence consists of a cluster of 5-6 flowers at the top. Pods are long and
cylindrical and 4-6 cm long. Each pod contains 4-10 seeds which are black or dark brown.
Source: http://uasr.agropedias.in/content/botanical-description-black-gram

Culinary uses
Urad or black gram, is consumed both whole and split, with skin removed.
In these forms, it is sometimes called black & white lentils but should not be
confused with Lens culinaris, the actual black lentil. Whole, it is well sought after
to prepare the now globally famous dal makhni (see recipe section).
The split version, without the outer coating, is used to prepare several North &
South Indian delicacies such as the ubiquitous, pro-biotic steamed rice cake and
pancake, idli-dosa, the fritter vada, papadums and the sweet, imarti.
The preparation of these traditional dishes ensures minimum flatulence, a side-
effect of bean consumption, as the soaking water for the dal is changed a few
times and as the batter for idli, dosa and imarti are fermented.
As all legumes, being a storehouse of proteins, minerals and vitamins while
being low in fat, this legume has many therapeutic uses in Ayurveda. It
is considered to be anti-inflammatory and pacifying of the vata dosha. It
strengthens the nervous system, helps digestive disorders specially constipation,
piles and colic and stimulates the liver as well as the immune system.
Black gram also has some traditional cosmetic uses: a pack made from its flour
is considered good for the hair which is strengthened and made lustrous; the
pack also promotes a good skin texture.
Black gram is also used to feed cattle and horses.

60
 Bambara Groundnut
Vigna subterranean (L.) Verdc
Names: (Eng:) Bambara groundnut, earth pea, jugo bean; (Fr:) voandzou, pois
de terre, pois bambara; (Por:) mancara de Bijagó, jinguba de Cabambe; (Swahili)
njugu mawe

According to FAO, the legume Bambara groundnut is mostly grown by

subsistence farmers of sub-Saharan Africa. It offers many advantages to these
farmers as it can grow in poor quality soils, even in drought conditions, yielding
a crop even when other legumes fail. It is suitable for intercropping with
maize, millet, sorghum. Its centre of origin is probably north eastern Nigeria
and northern Cameroun, where wild species are still found. It is cultivated
throughout tropical Africa as well as in some regions of Americas, Asia and
Australia (Kew).

Morphology
Vigna subterranea is a leafy, annual, creeping legume with glabrous (hairless) leaves
supported by a petiole 5-30 cm long. Each leaf is composed of three leaflets and can be
up to 11 cm long.

Yellow flowers are clustered 1-3 on a raceme. They are papilionaceous, typical of species
belonging to the subfamily Papilionoideae. The peduncle is up to 3 cm long, hairy and after
flowering it expands and bends downwards so that the fruits develop underground.

The ovary, which develops into the seed pod, contains 1-4 ovules. Once mature the seeds,
which can be of various colours, are almost spherical and are 8-15 mm in diameter. Bambara
groundnut has a deep taproot surrounded by lateral roots bearing nitrogen-fixing nodules.
Acknowldgment: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/vigna-subterranea-bambara-groundnut).

61
It is considered to be a “complete food” since the seeds contain around 63%
carbohydrates, 19% protein and 6.5% fat. It is eaten in various ways: boiled,
roasted or fried, as a snack, ground into flour for making porridge and dumplings;
fermented into products similar to tempeh. Milk can also be made from the seeds.
It has medicinal uses in Senegal where leaves are used as poultice for wounds
and abscesses; leaf sap are applied to eyes to treat epilepsy; pounded seeds are
mixed with water to treat cataracts (source: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-
fungi/vigna-subterranea-bambara-groundnut).

Bambara groundnut leaves, which are rich in nitrogen and potassium, are also
used as fodder for pigs and poultry.

In the fields, they improve soil quality and make a good rotation crop.

Though Bambara groundnut offers nutrition security, given its high nutritional
value and ability to grow in poor soils, with very little water demands, it
is highly underutilized (source: underutilized.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/vigna-
subterranea-bambara-groundnut).

Cowpea
Vigna unguiculata
Names: (Eng:) cowpea, china bean, black-eyed bean, crowder pea; (Kannada)
asande; (Tamil) karamani; (Telugu) alasandalu; (Malayalam) vanpayaru; (Beng:)
barbati; (Punjabi) rawan,souta

Also included under the same nomenclature is the sub-species yard long bean.

Antiquity & origin

Though Vavilov placed India as a centre of origin for cowpea, with Africa
and China being a secondary centre of diversity, archeological evidence from

62
West Africa, dating its existence to 3000 B.C. would
suggest Africa as the centre of origin. This is further
supported by the presence of the maximum diversity
of cowpea in Ethiopia. In fact, the belief is that
by 3000 B.C cowpea cultivation was thriving in
Central Africa. Moreover, wild forms are
present throughout tropical Africa and
Madagascar but not in Asia.

The crop would have reached India by

15 B.C. and then travelled to China
and South East Asia. It was probably
introduced to Europe in 300 B.C. via
Egypt, reaching U.S.A. in the 16th century
during the slave trade period (Singh, 1991,
cited by K.B. Wanjari in Pulses).

Cowpea was probably first domesticated in the Zambezian region and West
Africa (Ng & Maréchal, 1985) with centres of diversity in South and South East
Asia (Steele & Mehra, 1980).

Etymology & nomenclature

The fairly extensive nomenclature for cowpea reflects the diversity of the species:
southern crowder pea, field pea, pink-eye, purple hull, black eye, creamers, pwa
(from pois).

In Sanskrit cowpea is called rajmash (which should not be confused with rajmah,
the Hindi for kidney bean a phaseolus variety). Jain literature mentions the
legume as chavala whereas the Ain-i-Akbari (1590 AD) refers to it by its Persian
name lohbia, which is a term used even today in India. (Y.L Nene)

63
Morphology
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is one of the most popular grain legumes in Africa as
well as in some regions of America and Asia. The main subspecies is Vigna unguiculata (L.)
Walp. subsp. unguiculata (L.) Walp. Cowpea is often called “black-eyed pea” due to its black- or
brown-ringed hylum. Cowpea is called the “hungry-season crop” because it is the first crop to
be harvested before the cereal crops (Gomez, 2004). Its fresh or dried seeds, pods and leaves
are commonly used as human food. Since they are highly valuable as food, cowpeas are only
occasionally used to feed livestock but the hay and silage can be an important fodder. Cowpea
has great flexibility in use: farmers can choose to harvest them for grains or to harvest forage
for their livestock, depending on economical or climatological constraints (Gomez, 2004).
Dual-purpose varieties have been developed in order to provide both grain and fodder while
suiting the different cropping systems encountered in Africa (Tarawali et al., 1997). Cowpea by-
products such as cowpea seed waste and cowpea hulls (which result from the dehulling of the
seeds for food) have been used to replace conventional feedstuffs in some developing countries
(Ikechukwu, 2000).
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/232

Cultivation and distribution

Cowpeas can be erect, semi-erect, trailing or climbing. Varieties grown in India
are better suited to rainfed conditions in arid and semi-arid regions. The crop
is an important food legume in the semi arid tropical regions of Asia, Africa,
southern Europe as well as Central and South America.
Being shade tolerant, cowpea is intercropped with maize, millet, sorghum,
sugarcane and cotton. Often it is either a companion or a relay crop.
Temperature wise, cowpea does not tolerate frost. It germinates rapidly at 65°F
or above but growth is delayed with too much watering, leading to a lowering
of soil temperature.

64
Being resilient, cowpea grows well in various soils but thrives on well drained
sandy loamy or sandy soils.

Uses
Human consumption
Cowpea is normally used in many forms: in Africa, the young tender leaves are
eaten as spinach; the immature pods are cooked like snap peas, mixed with
other ingredients. When green, the seeds are boiled and eaten as vegetable. In
India, dry seeds are consumed as dal or in curries. Black-eyed pea is a classic
New Year’s Day dish in southern U.S.A.

Health benefits
In her book the new whole foods encyclopedia, Rebecca Wood states that the
sweet tasting black-eyed pea tones the spleen-pancreas and stomach meridian. It
has a diuretic effect while also relieving conditions such as leucorrhea.
The sub-species of Vigna unguiculata, the yard-long bean, is also known by a
variety of names: asparagus bean, Chinese long bean, cow bean, dou gok, long
bean. This bean is only eaten in the green form.

Miscellaneous
As feed for livestock
Cowpea is often the only source of high quality hay in several parts of the
world. It is used both as seed or green for fodder. Vines and leaves are both
used as feed; husks obtained after threshing also serve the same purpose.

As an agricultural input
Cowpea is excellent for green manuring, fixing nitrogen and controlling erosion.
End note from www.mother of a hubbard.com

65
 “Black-eyed peas are just one of many types of cowpea. There are pink-eyed,
brown-eyed and green-eyed cowpeas, as well as those without an ‘eye’.
There are cream peas that produce a beautiful light broth when cooked,
rather than the dark ‘pot liquor’ of most varieties. There are dainty lady
cowpeas, and blocky crowder cowpeas, so called because they completely
fill the pods and crowd each other into cowpea cubes. There are beautifully
speckled whippoorwill cowpeas, and multicolor calico cowpeas.”

Green gram
Vigna radiata (moved from Phaseolus aureus)
Names: (Eng:) green gram, mung bean; also see below under etymology.

The mung bean is a native of the Indian subcontinent (de Candolle,1884;

Vavilov,1926) and India is considered as the first region of domestication, given
the wide diversity which exists both in the cultivated and wild forms. Noted
centres of diversity of the wild type in India are located in Himachal Pradesh
and Western Ghats (Chandel, 1981) with a secondary centre in Bihar. A wide
range of diversity of progenitors of mung (V.radiata, var. sublobata) exists as
weeds in cultivated as well as wastelands in India. The subtropical wetlands
of northern and eastern Australia ( Lawn and Cottell, 1988) are also home to
the wild weedy variety. The sublobata variety is also to be found in the Indian
Ocean region, extending to the eastern coast of Africa and in Madagascar, where
it is called V. peirrieriana (R, Viguier, Pulses).

Antiquity
As many pulses in India, green gram too is of high antiquity. A few
archeological sites have been found with carbonised grains of both mung &
urad beans according to which their use would go back to 1660 to 1440 BC

66
(Vishnu Mittre 1974 in Pulses) or even to 2200-1000 B.C. as per Kajale (1977).
Other sites from where charred grains of mung beans have been found include
Chalcolithic Navdatoli (1500-1000 BC) and Neolithic Chairand in Bihar (1800
BC to AD 200); Kajale (1977) reports the presence of charred wild types in
Daimabad, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. (Biology & Breeding of Food
Legumes)

Etymology & nomenclature

The word mung comes from the Tamil munku or mungu and the Sanskrit mudga
which led to the Hindi mung, sometimes pronounced moog.

In English mungbean is also known as green gram. In French, it is known

sometimes as soja vert (green soja), which is a confusing and error-prone
appellation since it does not belong to the Glycine family at all. Another confusing
name in French is haricot mungo, which could lead to a confusion with Vigna
mungo, black gram. The preferred French name should be ambérique verte.

Many other languages use words such as monggo (East Timor), munggus
(Cebuano) or mung eta (Sinhalese), all of which go back to the word mung.

Cultivation
Mung bean, a warm season plant with deep roots, has the ability to adapt to
inferior soils and drought conditions, which makes it a hardy plant. In India,
while it is normally cultivated during the warm and wet kharif season in the
North, it is grown during the mild winter season in the South. It is sensitive
to water logging. A wide diversity of cultivated as well as weedy wild types
of mung exists in India which is the largest producer in the world. China and
Thailand too are important producers.

67
Morphology
The mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) is a legume cultivated for its edible seeds
and sprouts across Asia. There are 3 subgroups of Vigna radiata: one is cultivated (Vigna
radiata subsp. radiata), and two are wild (Vigna radiata subsp. sublobata and Vigna radiata
subsp. glabra). The mung bean plant is an annual, erect or semi-erect, reaching a height of
0.15-1.25 m (FAO, 2012; Lambrides et al., 2006; Mogotsi, 2006). It is slightly hairy with a
well-developed root system. Wild types tend to be prostrate while cultivated types are more
erect (Lambrides et al., 2006). The stems are many-branched, sometimes twining at the
tips (Mogotsi, 2006). The leaves are alternate, trifoliate with elliptical to ovate leaflets, 5-18
cm long x 3-15 cm broad. The flowers (4-30) are papillonaceous, pale yellow or greenish
in colour. The pods are long, cylindrical, hairy and pending. They contain 7 to 20 small,
ellipsoid or cube-shaped seeds. The seeds are variable in colour: they are usually green,
but can also be yellow, olive, brown, purplish brown or black, mottled and/or ridged. Seed
colours and presence or absence of a rough layer are used to distinguish different types of
mung bean (Lambrides et al., 2006; Mogotsi, 2006). Cultivated types are generally green or
golden and can be shiny or dull depending on the presence of a texture layer (Lambrides
et al., 2006). Golden gram, which has yellow seeds, low seed yield and pods that shatter
at maturity, is often grown for forage or green manure. Green gram has bright green seeds,
is more prolific and ripens more uniformly, with a lower tendency for pods to shatter. In
India, two other types of mung beans exist, one with black seeds and one with brown seeds
(Mogotsi, 2006). The mung bean resembles the black gram (Vigna mungo (L.)) with two
main differences: the corolla of Vigna mungo is bright yellow while that of Vigna radiata is
pale yellow; mung bean pods are pendulous whereas they are erect in black gram. Mung
bean is slightly less hairy than black gram. Mung bean is sown on lighter soils than black
gram (Göhl, 1982).
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/235

68
Uses
For human beings
Mung bean or green gram is an important food throughout Asia: India, its
country of origin, China, the Philipines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Korea,
Japan amongst others. It is eaten in a multitude of forms: as dal in South Asia;
as a fried snack or pancake in India; as soup in many South East countries;
sprouted, possibly globally. Sweet preparations are also made whether in India
or China and Indonesia.

Processed either split, with or without the outer covering, or made into paste,
flour or cellophane noodles (from mungbean starch only), mung bean is a very
versatile ingredient.

Health benefits
In China, mung bean is considered highly detoxifying and used extensively during
summer for clearing body heat and toxin build-up as well as to balance organs.

As per Ayurveda too green gram is cooling in property; it is a tridoshic food,

which means it balances all three Ayurvedic doshas; kapha, pitta and vata.
Moreover, since it is astringent in taste and contains, like all legumes, a good
amount of fiber, it helps in purging mucus from bowels, removing toxins and
parasites from the gut.

Compared to other legumes, mung bean is considered more easily digestible.

As far back as the 6th century B.C., Buddha is said to have recommended
green gram soup to his disciples; travelers such as Ibn Batuta (1325-1354
A.D.), Tavernier (1640-1667 A.D.) and Abdur Razzak (1443) have mentioned
that for the preparation of khichdi green gram is the preferred ingredient
(Y.L. Nene).

69
Apart for eating, green gram flour and its leaves are said to be excellent as a
soap, leaving the skin smooth and soft.

Animal fodder
Mung bean can provide fodder in the form of hay, straw & silage (Megolsi,
2006 in Feedipedia). It can be grazed six weeks after planting and two grazings
are usually obtained (FA0 2012 in Feedipedia).

Miscellaneous
Green gram is a good green manure whilst also being a cover crop. It provides
important amount of biomass and is effective for nitrogen fixing.

Moth bean
Vigna aconitifolia
Names: (Eng:) dew bean, dew gram, mothbean; (Indian appelations) moth, mat, matki.

Antiquity and origin

Not much is known about the antiquity of moth bean; however, it
is mentioned in History of Agriculture in India, upto C.1200 A.D by
Vinod Chandra Srivastava, as being grown already in the Neolithic
Level. According to Srivastava, together with other crops, it must have
been cultivated from the first millennium BC. The first mention of
moth bean goes back to the Taitriya Brahmana, a commentary on
Yajurveda (c. 7000 BC).
Moth bean is definitely considered to be a native of India and
Pakistan, where it is grown for food, forage and as a cover crop. Sri
Lanka and Pakistan are considered centres of diversity by Maréchal et
al. (1978).

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In India about 1.5 million hectares are devoted to moth bean. This legume is
also grown in USA, Australia, Thailand and other parts of Asia. However, though
it is found in Sudan, Somalia and other tropical countries of Africa, it is not a
very important crop in that continent.

Up till now, the first wild variety is not known.

To quote R.N. Adsule from Food and Feed from Legumes and Oilseeds:
“Moth bean is a short, semi-erect hairy annual bushy plant, with prostrate
creeping habit. Flowers are bright yellow in colour. Pods are linear, brown in
colour, with a short curved beak; they contain 4-10 seeds which are small,
rectangular and have a mottled seed coat (Janoria et al.,1984).”

The seeds are said to contain very high levels of protein, ranging between
22-24%. Given its widespread tap root system, it is able to source water from
deeper layers of the soil. Moreover, since it has low- lying leaf- covering on
the surface, it helps retain the moisture of the soil. This hot weather plant is
considered to be drought resistant and, given its root formation, it is able to
combat soil erosion. It can grow on a wide range of soil types but does not
tolerate water logging, growing best on well-drained soil and demanding very
little irrigation. However, the matted branch formation of the plant makes it
difficult to use machines during the harvesting season and so sickles are used for
the purposes of harvesting.

Given the hardy nature of this plant as well as the high level of protein content
of the seeds, the National Academy of Sciences has identified it as a food source
to develop in the future.

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Uses
For human consumption
In India, moth dal is more often eaten as a dal but in regional cuisines,
especially in Maharashtra, it is prepared in diverse ways: as usal, a curry
like preparation or as misal (see recipe section), a snack eaten with pav, an
Indian version of bread or as amti, a soup. In Rajasthan where there is a large
production of this bean, it is used as one of the pulses of the panchmel or
panchratna dal. Fresh pods are eaten as vegetables.

Seeds are also ground into flour for making flat breads and papads.

Moth bean also has therapeutic values and is used in diets for treating fever
while coats are said to have narcotic properties.

Other uses

As forage, manure and green cover.

Moth bean which is very hardy and adaptable to harsh eco-zones, provides a
wonderful green cover to soil in dry and arid regions, keeping the soil moisture
locked in. It is also a very good manure and helps nitrogen fixation.

In India, the empty pods and residue left after the processing of dal are used as
animal feed.

An unusual use for moth bean has recently surfaced according to some beauty
sites (www.beautynewsnyc.com). The extract of this legume has apparently
similar properties to retinol, a beauty additive which is problematic to use but
which renews collagen and refines skin texture. The extract from moth being
biological does not cause the side effects of chemical retinol.

The cultural chapter carries a story related to the bean.

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Rice Bean
Vigna Umbellata (formerly Phaseolus calcarathus)
Names: (Hindi) naurangi; (Eng.) rice bean.

Antiquity and origin

Not much is known about the antiquity of rice bean. As per Vavilov (1926)
its primary centre of origin is India, (excluding north-west region). However in
The Origins of Chinese Civilization, David N Keightley suggests that rice bean
originated in South China; N.Haq places it in Indo-China (in Biological Breeding
of Food legumes). Today, as per Hooker (1879), cited in Pulses, rice bean is to
be found in both wild and cultivated forms throughout the tropical zone of the
Indian subcontinent, stretching from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka, as well as other
countries of Asia. It is also present in a smaller way in Mauritius, West Indies,
East Africa, Australia and USA (Baldev, 88).
As far as cultivation goes, the resilient rice bean is often grown on marginal
and exhausted soil or where other crops do not grow too well. It adapts itself
to high temperatures but performs best within 18°30°C, with an annual rainfall
of 700-1730 mm. It is also tolerant of water logging. As per Haq, the “growth,
maturity and yield of rice bean vary depending on cultivar, climatic conditions
and type of sowing.” If in Angola it is ready within 60 days, in eastern India
and Bangladesh it takes 130 days. Seed yield ranges between 600 to 2100
kg/ha while green fodder yield can be between 20,000 to 22,000 kg/ha. An
amazing fact about this crop is its ability to be free of pests and diseases. It is
normally intercropped.
Nutrition wise, as most legumes, it has an excellent profile with 16-25% protein,
a good amount of calcium and the presence of many important vitamins,
including thiamine, niacin and riboflavin, it is also a good source of iron and
phosphorous.

73
 In the Garhwal Himalaya the rice bean is known as naurangi because they come
in nine colours; in other regions the seeds are often monochromatic.

In Indian regional cuisines, rice bean is used both as a vegetable and a pulse;
leaves and pods are used for curries and dried seeds are made into dal; they
are also steamed, to be used as a snack.

Rice bean has been used as animal fodder and has a sizable contribution to
make agriculturally. Grown on marginal and exhausted soil, it fixes nitrogen and
replenishes nutrients. It has been used to increase the fertility of paddy fields, which
probably accounts for its name as rice bean. It acts as a very effective cover crop.

Morphology
Vigna umbellata is a short-lived perennial legume usually grown as an annual. It has a very
variable habit: it can be erect, semi-erect or twining. It is 30-100 cm in height, up to 200
cm (Ecoport, 2014). It has an extensive root system with a taproot that can go as deep as
100-150 cm. The stems are branched, finely haired. The leaves are trifoliate with 6-9 cm
long leaflets. The flowers, borne on 5-10 cm long axillary racemes, are papillonaceous and
bright yellow. The fruits are cylindrical, 7.5-12.5 cm long pods that contain 6-10 oblong,
6-8 mm seeds with a concave hilum. Rice bean seeds are very variable in colour, from
greenish-yellow to black through yellow, brown. Yellow-brownish types are reported to be
more nutritious. The red type gives its common name to the grain in several languages, like
in Chinese (Ecoport, 2014).
Acknowledgment: www.feedifedia.org/node/234

Rice bean is one of the legumes which scientists have identified as a legume
to be promoted for its remarkable performance. This little known crop,
excellent on the plate and in the field, could become a legume of the future
given its resilience.

74
Soya Bean
Glycine max
According to Kew’s website, the genus Glycine has 19 species.
The name Glycine actually comes from the Greek glycys, which
means sweet; it basically referred to the sweet smelling and
tasting roots and leaves of a species no longer in Glycine
but in Apios, a fact which points to the highly complicated
taxonomic history of this genus.
Today the best known species of this genus is Glycine max,
the soya bean, the wild ancestor of which is Glycine soja.
Though FAO has classified this bean under oilseeds, soy
or soya bean is so widely used as food, in various
forms, in spite of the controversies that surround its
consumption in non fermented forms, that it becomes
important to familiarise oneself with this legume.
Soya most probably originated in China, and was domesticated
some time around the 11th century B.C., during the Chou dinasty (Ho,
cited by William Shurtlieff and Akiko Aoyogi in The Soybean Plant: Botany,
Nomenclature, Taxonomy, Domestication, and Dissemination). The pictograph of
this bean, ie the character shu, emphasising the nodules of the roots, caused by
rhizobium, (while those of other grains counted as sacred depict seed and stem)
seems to indicate its importance more as an agricultural input than as food; it is
only, a few centuries later, after the discovery of fermentation techniques that it
was used for human consumption in the form of tempeh, natto, miso and shogu
(source: Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, Ph.D. in Concerns Regarding Soybeans www.
fda.gov). And therein lies the crux of the matter regarding the appropriateness
of soya and its products as food. This matter becomes all the more controversial
in view of the genetic modification of the legume.

75
Since soya bean contains high levels of anti-nutrients, higher than other
legumes, its consumption as food should be limited to its fermented forms,
as fermentation deactivates the growth depressing trypsin inhibitors and
hemagglutinin. As far as tofu and bean curd are concerned, opinions are
divided, with some nutritionists claiming that they should be avoided and others
saying that since the level of enzyme inhibitors is reduced, being concentrated in
the soaking liquid, they could be eaten.

Regarding phytates, present in higher quantity in soybean than any other grains
or legumes, even prolonged slow cooking, a process which normally reduces
phytates considerably in other legumes, is not effective in the case of soy.

Given all these reservations, to benefit of the goodness of soy, it is best to

consume its fermented forms.
To be absolutely avoided because of their lack of nutritional quality, not to say
harmful effects, are various highly processed soy foods such as:
• soy meat analog, also called textured vegetable protein(TVP), made from
highly refined soy isolate which is a chemically processed by-product of the
meal left once soya bean has been pressed for oil;
• soya flakes and flour, from which the trypsin inhibitor and other anti-
nutrients have not been removed;
• soya oil, which is in fact considered toxic in traditional Chinese medicine
and is difficult to digest.

Fermented soya products that are beneficial:

• Miso: a fermented paste made from soybean, koji inoculant, salt and rice
or barley. Comes in a range of flavours from meaty and complex to subtle
and sweet. Can be added to soups or used as seasoning for sauces. It is
anti carcinogenic while also mitigating the effects of radiation, smoking,

76
 air pollution and other environmental toxins. For full benefits, use darker
coloured miso (Rebecca Wood).
• Natto: a strong flavoured, fermented food, full of enzymes. bacteria and
fungi. Is an acquired taste, used as a condiment for rice or other grains or
stirred into soups and noodles. It is a potent digestive aid, regulates blood
sugar and is also an excellent source of protein (Rebecca Wood).
• Tempeh: a traditional Indonesian fermented food, made from soybean
and some other beans. Has a bolder flavour than tofu and can be used for
preparing vegetarian burgers, kebabs, etc: (not to be confused with harmful
meat analogs). Health benefits include energy- building and B12 content
(Rebecca Wood).
Apart from fermented soy products, mentioned above, the black soya bean,
growing in India, in the Himalayan regions, where they would have reached
from China, as well as in some parts of Central India, and the green soya bean
are both suitable for human consumption as they are more easily digestible.
The green one is eaten, cooked in the pod, while still immature; the black one
requires 10-12 hours of soaking and 3-4 hours of cooking.

Source: William Shurtlieff & Akiko Aoyagi in The Soybean Plant: Botany,Nomenclature, Taxonomy,
Domestication, and Dissemination.
Rebecca Wood: the new whole foods encyclopaedia
Concerns Regarding Soybeans www.fda.gov

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Minor Legumes (brief thumbnails)
Acacia

Also known as thorn trees, wattle in Australia, khangkhut in Manipur (N.E.

India), cha-om in Thailand. A wide ranging genus, counting 1350 species, of
which 1000 are found in Australia. Grows as shrubs or small trees; flowers
come in various shades: cream, pale yellow to gold, with one variety having
purple and another red flowers. Has many uses: for wood, as an ornamental,
for flavouring (American soft drinks, candies & gums as well as Thai omelets
& fritters); also used for culinary purposes in Manipur. In Mexico, beans
called guajes/huajes, used as food (raw, cooked, toasted). Gum arabic is
obtained from Acacia Senegal and in India, katha used in paan, betel
preparation, is obtained from Acacia catechu, which also has medicinal
properties as per Ayurveda.

African Yam bean

Sphenostylis stenocarpa
Names: (Eng:) African yam bean, yam-pea; (Fr:) pois tubéreux africain, haricot
igname, pomme de terre du Mossi; (Ghana) kutreku, kulege, akitereku, apetreku;
(Nigeria) girigiri, kutonoso, roya, efik, nsama, ibibio; (Malawi) cinkhoma, nkhoma;
(Ibo) okpo dudu; (Obudu) bitei; (Togo:) sesonge, gundosollo, sumpelegu,
tschangilu; (Yoruba) sese, sheshe; (Congo) giliabande, pempo, mpempo.

The origins of the African yam bean could be Ethiopia (NRI, 1987) or West and
Central Africa (Potter & Doyle 1992). Its wild and cultivated forms are spread
out across tropical Africa: south of Zimbabwe, West Africa, Central Africa and

78
 East Africa. It grows on deep, loose sandy or loamy soils, with good drainage; it
can also grow on acidic soil, at a height of up to 1800m and in a diversity of
eco-zones ranging from savannah to rainforest. Rainfall wise, results are better
with 800-1400 mm, with at least 1000 mm during growing stage (source: http://
www.feedipedia.org/node/704 & Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes ed: by
Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar).

Morphology
The African yam bean (Sphenostylis stenocarpa (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Harms) is a perennial
climbing bush, 1-3 m high, generally grown as an annual. Its leaves are trifoliate with oval
leaflets (2.7 to 13 cm long and 0.2 to 5.5 cm broad). Sphenostylis stenocarpa is cultivated
for its edible tubers, which look like elongated sweet potatoes, and for its seeds, which are
contained in hard and tough, 20-30  cm long pods. It is mainly used as food but can be
used to feed animals.
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/704

African yam bean, like other legumes, is a good source of proteins, minerals
such as phosphorus, iron and potassium whilst also containing anti-nutrients.
The African yam bean is an underutilized plant. Akande (2010) reports
that currently mostly older farmers grow it (Saka et al. 2004). It is eaten in
various ways: the tubers are eaten like potatoes with yam, maize or rice. It
can replace cowpea in many preparations. Seeds are seasoned, wrapped in
plantain leaf, boiled and eaten. Beans require long soaking and cooking time,
which is a deterrent, except in times of scarcity. Flour made from seeds is
mixed with cassava for soups.
Apart from being used as food, the African yam bean is also used as feed for
livestock and as green manure for soil restoration (Saka et al 2004).

79
In traditional farming, it is intercropped with cassava, maize and okra. It makes
for a good ground cover and is excellent for nitrogen fixation.

In his presentation, Akande felt there was a need for germplasm collection as
currently only the older generations of farmers were growing the African yam
bean in Nigeria.

Source: Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes ed: by Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar
Article of S.R. Akande, titled Germplasm characterization of African Yam Bean
(sphenostylis stenocarpa) from South West Nigeria (from PGR Newsletter, issue
N°154, p.25 to 29).

Agati
1. Sesbania grandiflora: (Eng:) white flowers; also called vegetable
hummingbird; (Hindi) gaach-munga; (Malayalam) akatti; (Sanskrit) agasti;
(Sinhalese) kathmurunga; (Bhasa-Indonesia) bungaturi; (Thai) dok khae.
2. Sesbania bispinosa: (Eng:) yellow flowers; (Hindi) danchi or dunchi; (Thai) doc
sano.
Flowers of both varieties are eaten in various ways: fried, in omelets, in curries,
steamed with fish sauce; in India and Sri Lanka, young pods and leaves are also
eaten. Leaves and flowers have medicinal properties: as a tonic, a diuretic, a
laxative; for headaches and vision amongst others.

Geocarpa Groundnut
Macrotyloma geocarpum
Names: (Eng:) Kersting’s groundnut, Hausa groundnut, geocarpa groundnut,
ground bean; (Fr:) lentille de terre, fève de kandale. (source: www.prota4u.org/protav8.
asp?g.....)

The origin of Geocarpa groundnut is not known but could be northern Togo or
Central Benin. It is cultivated in the West African savannah zone, from Nigeria

80
to Cameroun. It can also be found in Mauritius, Fiji and Tanzania. It is in many
ways similar to Bambara groundnut, growing underground and is an underutilized
plant, looked down upon since it is mostly grown by women on small farms. This
legume too grows in very hardy conditions and grows where other crops may fail.
Its nutritional value is quite high. Its taste is also good. Yet it is a disappearing
species for many reasons: low yield, small grain size, labour intensive crop, non-
acceptability socially, despite its cultural importance in West Africa, particularly
Togo, (a possible reason of its survival). (Source: PGR News letter, Issue N°152, p:45-40;
authors: B.J. Amujoyeqbe, I.O. Obisesan, A.O. Ajayi, F.A. Aderanti).

Hog peanut
Amphicarpaea bracteata
Names: (Eng:) hog peanut, ground bean.

The hog peanut is a perennial vine, native to eastern North America. It grows
up to 1.5 m and is suitable for sandy, loamy and clayey soils. Two types of
seeds are produced, those in pods from flowers near the ground, which get
buried, giving a single seed, high in taste and used very much like peanuts
except that they can be eaten raw too; then, there are seeds from pods from
higher flowers, that do not go underground; these seeds must be cooked before
usage. Roots of this plant are also edible.
(Source: http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bp_legumev.html & pfaf.org.)

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Horse gram
Macrotyloma uniflorum
Names: (Eng:) horse gram, Madras gram; (Hindi) kulath, gahath.

Antiquity and origin

The horse gram is deemed to be a native of the Indian subcontinent, with

Indian plains and hills of the south considered as areas of domestication (K.R.
Krishna in Agroecosystems of South India: Nutrientdynamics, Ecology and
Productivity). According to Y.L Nene, citing Mehra (op. cit.), archeological
evidence shows that horse gram was used as food since circa 2000 B.C.
The plant is also mentioned as kathakula, its original Sanskrit name in the
Brahadaranyaka (c. 5500 B.C). K.T. Achaya (1998) indicates that
an ancient Ayurveda text refers to horse gram as kulatha, as
do Buddhist and Jain literature. Susruta, a physician existing
before the Christian era, talks of vanyakulatha, (kulatha of
the forest) which would point to a wild species. There are
also several other evidences which attest to its antiquity, as
for example evidence from Neolithic dwellings in South India
(Bolvin et al., 2007).

Etymology and nomenclature

The English name horse gram clearly comes from its usage as feed
for cattle, especially horses. Botanically, it was known as Dolichos
biflorus until 1954, though today the accepted nomenclature
is Macrotyloma uniflorus; a fact that can lead to confusion,
according to many, is that it is still sometimes called Dolichos
biflorus.

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Production, cultivation and distribution
From its area of distribution, in South India, during Neolithic times, horse gram
spread to the western and northern parts of India as well, being grown in India
from Uttarakhand hills to Gujrat, Bengal and the South. Some Asian countries
comprising China, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and others also grow horse gram. In Africa,
it is cultivated in countries of the east and north-east of the continent. A small
area of production is to be found in Queensland, Australia.
Generally, horse gram grows on all kinds of soil, except very alkaline ones. This
drought resistant plant cannot tolerate water logging. It is used as a preparatory
crop on new land, where it is grown two or three times before the main food
grain is sown. It is also sown on land that could not be prepared for lack of
time. In the Himalayan foothills, horse gram forms part of baranaja (twelve
crops) fields. Though it grows best on a wide range of soils (black cotton soils,
deep red loam soils, clay loam paddy soils), it has the amazing property of also
growing in poor soils. It requires low to moderate annual rainfall (500-700mm)
and temperatures ranging from 20°-34°C. (Source: agrifarming.in)

Morphology
It is a twining annual or perennial plant which has a dense growth. Its leaves
are trifoliate and it has yellow flowers with a violet blot on the standard. Pods
are 6-8 cm long and 4-8mm wide and contain 6-7 seeds (Source: http://www.
feedipedia.org/node/628).

Uses
Human consumption
The history of the human consumption of kulath goes back to at least c.
1500-800 B.C as per K.T. Achaya, renowned historian of Indian foods. During
this period, known as the Sutra period, yusa, a soup made from kulath was

83
consumed on a regular basis and, in Achaya’s opinion, it would have been the
precursor of what we call rasam today. He also mentions that vadas prepared
from this pulse are referred to in the Vamuka Samuchaya (1520 A.D).

Modern day India too has several recipes for kulath aka gahath. In the Garwal
Himalayas, a dal is prepared from it; it is sometimes used as a stuffing in flat
breads. In Maharashtra a snack called usal made from kulath is relished by
many. In the Konkan area a curry with sprouted horse gram, potatoes and
onions is prepared.

Several health benefits are attributed to horse gram in traditional medicine in

India. As per Ayurveda, it has warming properties and must be consumed during
the winter months. It reduces the medha dhatu, ie body fat, improves sperm
count and regulates the menstrual cycle to name but a few of its therapeutic
uses. One of the main health benefits it is known for is the dissolving of
kidney stones.

Other uses
As animal feed
Given its high nutritional profile, horse gram is used as a cattle feed in many
forms: seeds and by-products, forage, green fodder.

Ice cream bean

Inga edulis, I.feuilleei
These trees of the legume family, native to Central and South America, yield
beans with a sweet, pulpy flesh, reminding of vanilla ice cream. (Other legumes
with pulpy flesh: carob, tamarind, mesquite-Prosopis glandulosa-, honey locust-
Gladiata triacanthos).

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Jack bean
Canavalia ensiformis (L) DC.
Names: (Eng:) Jack bean, Chickasaw lima bean, Brazilian broad bean, coffee
bean, ensiform bean, horse bean, mole bean, Go-Ta-Ki, overlook bean, Pearson
bean, Watanka; (Hindi) jack sem (source: Purdue).
For a little known and used bean, Canavalia ensiformis has an extensive
nomenclature which is both confusing, as it refers to other plants (ex: horse
bean which is actually Vicia fabia equine) and illustrative as it refers to its
unknown use (ex: coffee bean since it is sometimes used as a coffee substitute
(Purdue)). Moreover members of the genus Canavalia are often called jack-
beans. According to D.F. Austin (cited in Wikipedia), the name of the genus
comes from a “Malabar” word, Kavavali, i.e. forest-climber.
The Jack bean is deemed to be a native of West Indies, Central America and
as per Feedipedia also tropical Africa. It is now cultivated in many parts of the
world (USDA 2009).

The legume is used both for human and animal consumption; however since it
contains HCN and other toxins, it requires a long cooking time for detoxification (N.
Haq in Biology & Breeding of Food Legumes). Traditionally, for the same purpose,
the seeds are boiled for a long time and the water drained. Though Jack bean
contains the rich nutrient profile of legumes, it is specially prized as the source of
concanavali A, a lectin used for biotechnology application and immunology, as well
as a source of purified urease enzyme used for scientific research.

Apart from the seeds, the flat, sword-like pods, young leaves and flowers are also
eaten. However, since, on the whole, seeds and green parts are not high on taste,
the plant is primarily grown to serve as forage and to serve a useful agronomic
role since it can serve as living mulch which can control weeds and pathogens

85
 (J.A. Caamal-Maldonado et al., 2001) Jack bean can also control erosion while
improving the soil. It is intercropped with sugarcane, coffee, tobacco, rubber and
sisal; it also functions as a cover crop for cocoa, coconut & pineapple

The plant thrives in humid tropical lowlands but is also found growing at
altitudes of up to 1800m. It requires a rainfall ranging from 800-2000 mm but
given its deep roots, it can also sustain dry periods.

Morphology
Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis (L.) DC.) is a climbing perennial legume commonly cultivated
as an annual. It grows up to 2 m high with 8-20 cm long trifoliate leaves and a strong
root system. Flowers are pink, mauve or white with a red base. Pods are up to 36 cm long
and contain 1-2 cm long, ellipsoid seeds. Pods and seeds are edible and used for food, the
young pods being cooked as a vegetable. The whole plant, the pods and seeds are also used
to feed animals
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/327

Kudzu
Genus Pueraria, with several species, (P. lobata, P. montana, P. edulis, amongst others).
A fast growing bean, originating in the eastern- south-eastern belt of Asia as well
as some Pacific islands. Brought to U.S.A, from Japan, to control soil erosion
but declared invasive later. Kudzu,however, has many uses: leaves are eaten as
greens, root tubers are also edible as are flowers; “Japanese arrowroot” is made
from the powder of tubers. Flowers provide nectar to bees, butterflies and
pollinating insects. Animals graze on leave and ethanol can be made from the
plant. Currently underutilised.

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Lathyrus
The lathyrus genus is primarily a flowering plant
species, of which the sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus)
is the most notable. Also known as vetchlings, the
genus counts 160 species, most of which are not
fit for consumption since they are quite toxic; some
members though are cultivated as food, the grass
pea, Lathyrus sativus being the most important
economically. Others include the red pea (L. cicera),
the Cyprus Vetch (L. ochrus), the Spanish vetchling
(L. clymenum) and the tuberous pea (L. tuberosus),
so called because it is for the starchy edible tuber
that it is grown.
Given that the seeds of the Lathyrus species are
toxic, as they contain a neurotoxin, the consumption of edible ones should
be moderate as otherwise they could cause lathyrism, a condition leading to
paralysis.
A list of the edible varieties is given below, with a brief description:
• Lathyrus sativus: the grass pea, chuckling vetch, Indian pea/vetch, khesari or
lateri (Hindi), lakh (Marathi). This annual legume is grown both for human
food and fodder. Its ability to tolerate both aridity and flooding makes it
a preferred crop for poor, arid zones. Originating in the Balkan Peninsula,
during the early Neolithic period, today it is cultivated and naturalized in
many parts of South, Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean basin,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Ethiopia. In fact
in South Asia and Ethiopia, given its hardiness, grass pea is sometimes the
only available food.

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Cultivation habits
Season of growth: spring in temperate areas and winter in subtropical areas.
Height: can be cultivated from sea level to 1200 m (India), 1700-2700 m (Ethiopia).
Temperature: an average of 10°-25°C.
Annual rainfall: 400-650 mm.
Soil requirements: wide range, including poor and heavy soils.
Grass pea tolerates water logging and water scarcity as well as alkaline and
saline conditions (Yadav et al., 2006).
Human consumption: as soups (Georgia) and as dal, (South Asia). Often used as
a cheap adulterant for pigeon pea, Bengal gram or besan (chickpea flour).
As feed: straw is used for fodder: silage can be made and at early stage of
growth animals graze on it.
Tuberous pea, tuberous vetchling
Lathyrus tuberosus
This native of wet regions of Europe and Western Asia has been cultivated since
the 17th Century for its tubers, which are both tasty and nutritious. However
yields are not very high (Clovegarden).
Heath pea
Lathyrus linifolius
This native of Europe and parts of Asia has an interesting history. Its tubers are/
were the edible parts and up till the 18th century, when potato arrived, heath
pea was cultivated for its tubers, which were dried and kept. These were notable
for their appetite suppressing efect which, it is said, could last for days, making
them a preferred food in times of food scarcity. It is for this aspect that it
evokes interest today.

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Pink vetchling
Lathyrus roseus
Not much information is available on this species. According to Clovegarden, it
is a native of Caucasus, particularly Georgia and it would seem that young seed
pods are consumed.

Spanish vetchling
Lathyrus clymenum
The seeds of this native of the Mediterranean region, more specifically Santorini
and neighboring islands, are notably used to prepare the Greek dish fava santorinis.
Recently the plant has acquired a Protection of Designation of Origin rating from
the European Union, since it grows best in the volcanic soil of this region.

Sea pea, beach pea, circumpolar pea, sea vetchling

Lathyrus japonicus
This species is a native of temperate coastal areas of Asia, Europe, North and
South America. It has a variant known as Lathyrus maritimus which typically
grows in sandy or stony coastal habitats. The seeds have an ability to withstand
floating in seawater. Pods of this species can be eaten but with caution as, like
other members of this genus, they contain neurotoxins. The leaves of the plant
are, however, useful in traditional Chinese medicine.
Source: Feedipedia, Wikipedia, Clovegarden

Lupines
The genus Lupinus comprises flowering plants of the Fabaceae family. It owes
its name, which comes from the Latin lupus for wolf, to the erroneous belief
that it devoured nutrients from the soil; but, quite on the contrary, like other
legumes, plants of this genus actually enhance soil fertility by fixing nitrogen.

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They number possibly more than 200 species. The major centers of diversity
of lupines are in South America and Western North America, with secondary
centres in the Mediterranean and African regions.
Most of the plants of the genus are herbaceous perennials, with some being
annuals; there are also shrubs which can grow up to 3m tall and one species,
Lupinus jaimehintoniana in Oaxaca, Mexico, being a tree.
The genus Lupinus was first divided by Watson (1873) into three subgenera:
platycarpos, lupinus and lupinellus, on the basis of habitat and number of ovules.
Asclerson and Graebrer subsequently revised this division in 1907 on the basis of a
more global study. Currently it has again been divided by Kurlovich and Stankevich
(2002) into the subgenera platycarpos and lupinus: platycarpos regroups about
270 varieties which are both perennial and annual, from the Americas, mostly
southwestern U.S.A. and the Andes in South America whereas lupinus regroups 11
species from Africa and the Mediterranean region. Lupinus also grows in Australia.
Lupines are toxic plants, some more than the others and therefore have to be
detoxified before use for human consumption. Various traditional methods exist
since they have been used as food for millennia. The less toxic varieties are
called sweet lupines. They also have an important ecological role since they are
the food of larvae of several butterflies.
The following are the most commonly eaten varieties:
Lupini beans
Lupinus albius (white lupines)/Lupinus lutieus, yellow lupines
The Romans propagated the cultivation of lupines throughout their empire;
they are commonly found in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Brazil; they also
exist in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Israel and Turkey. They are primarily
eaten as a snack, processed with salt and citric acid and kept in jars. They
require days of soaking in salted water, with several changes to remove the
bitter toxins.

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Tarwi or Pearl lupine
Lupinus mutabilis
It is also called tarhui, chocho, altramuz, Andean lupine, South American lupine,
Peruvian field lupine. It was domesticated in the New World and played/plays
an important role in the Andean region, where it has been conserved for several
millennia. Unfortunately after the Spanish conquest, which impacted food practices
in the region, it was marginalized. Today it is getting back its prominence.
Though it is highly toxic as it contains bitter alkaloids, it can be detoxified
through soaking and several changes of water, across 5-6 days.
It is prepared in many ways: stews, salads, soups. It is also pressed for oil.
Tarwi seeds are being used as an animal feed, preferred over soy, groundnut
cake and fishmeal.
Lupinex, a bitter compound, is being extracted from it to be used as a bio-
pesticide (Kahnt and Hijazi, 2008).
Blue lupines
Lupinus angustifolus
This European species is now widely cultivated in South West Australia. It is used
both as food and feed. As food it is being processed in similar ways to soya
beans. They are also eaten sprouted. They are deemed to be potentially a very
good source of protein for processed foods.

Wild lupine
Lupinus perennis
This lupine, also known as blue lupine, sundial lupine or perennial lupine, has
medicinal uses. Ecologically also it is important as various insects such as beetles,
butterflies and moths feed on them. Unfortunately many factors have led to a drastic
decrease of the plant, which in turn has endangered the karner blue butterfly.
Source: Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes, ed: by Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar Wikipedia
www.clovegarden.com, Beans, Peas and Lentils.

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Sataw
Parkia speciosa
Known as twisted cluster bean, stink bean, sator/ sataw (Thai), nejire-fusamame
(Jap.) zaungtah (Miso); belongs to the Parkia genus (P.speciosa) where with other
species (P.javanica, P.singularis) the tree yields beans, the plump, green seeds
of which are edible, though foul smelling. In India, Parka species grow wild in
the North- East, specially Manipur, where they are used to prepare the delicacy
Eromba or Yongchak singju. They are cooked in combination with shrimps,
meat. chilies and garlic, a combination which ensures good absorption of
the nutrients in beans. A North-eastern recipe of stink beans features in our
recipe section.

Sword bean
Canavalia gladiola
Names: (English) sword bean, horse bean;
(Hindi) badi sem; (Sanskrit) mahasimbi

Sword bean, which belongs to the

Canavalia genus, together with jack bean,
is very close to it and sometimes confused
with it. It is a perennial plant, often
cultivated as an annual (Ekanayake
et al., 2000).

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Morphology
Sword bean is a perennial legume mainly cultivated as an annual (Ekanayake et al., 2000).
Sword bean has a vigorous climbing or trailing habit and can be up to 10 m long. Some
cultivars may also be semi-erect. Sword bean has a deep root system. Its stems are woody.
The leaves are alternate, large, trifoliate. Sword bean leaflets are oval-shaped, 7.5–20 cm
long × 5–14 cm broad, shortly pubescent on both faces. The inflorescence is a large axillary
raceme (7 to 12 cm long) bearing several flowers. The flowers are papillonaceous, inverted,
white to pink in colour. The fruits are long (20-40 -60) cm), straight, rough-surfaced and
consist of slightly compressed dehiscent pods containing 8 to 16 seeds. The seed are 2-3.5
cm -1.5-2 cm, oblong-ellipsoid in shape, very variable in colour. They range from red, red-
brown to white or black. The hilum is as long as the seed, dark brown in colour.
Acknowledgment: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/326

The plant, like others in its genus, is considered a neglected one, and is not
cultivated commercially. It is, however, used in many African and Asian regions for
human consumption: interiors and central parts of South India, Sri Lanka, China,
Korea, Japan and Madagascar. In fact in Tanzania the expression being happy in
Swahili translates as “eating sword bean” (Bosch 2004). Both seeds and pods are
edible and nutritious; mature seeds contain anti-nutritional substance and must
therefore be used carefully: dehulled, soaked in salted water and even fermented.
Consumption of large quantities is not recommended (Duke, 1981, in Feedipedia).

Sword bean has therapeutic values in traditional medical systems. In Ayurveda, it

is considered as balancing kapha and pitta doshas; it is recommended in case of
vomiting, lumbago, and asthma amongst many other discomforts.

The plant also has other uses; as fodder: foliage for animals, seeds, in moderate
quantities for cattle and chicken; as an ornamental and cover crop, believed to
have snake repelling properties.

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 Velvet bean
Mucina pruriens
Names: (English) velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius
velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, Cowage, cowitch, lacura bean, Lyon bean;
(Hindi) kiwanch or kooch; (Sanskrit) atmagupta or kapikachu; (Nigeria) Devil
Beans; (Angola & Mozambique) feijao maluco (mad bean) (source: Wikipedia).
The Velvet bean is a native of Asia and Africa; it is now cultivated widely across
the world as the nomenclature reflects. It is either annual or perennial, existing
in both bushy and climbing forms, the latter being more common.

Morphology
The plant is an annual climbing shrub with long vines that can reach over 15 m in length.
When the plant is young, it is almost completely covered with fuzzy hairs, but when older, it
is almost completely free of hairs. The leaves are tripinnate, ovate, reverse ovate, rhombus-
shaped or widely ovate. The sides of the leaves are often heavily grooved and the tips are
pointy. In young M.pruriens plants, both sides of the leaves have hairs. The stems of the
leaflets are two to three millimeters long.
The flower heads take the form of axially arrayed panicles. They are 15 to 32 cm long and
have two or three, or many flowers. The accompanying leaves are about 12.5 mm long,
the flower stand axes are from 2.5 to 5 mm. The bell is 7.5 to 9 mm long and silky.
The sepals are longer or of the same length as the shuttles. The crown is purplish or white.
The flag is 1.5 mm long. The wings are 2.5 to 3.8 cm long.
In the fruit ripening stage, a 4 to 13 cm-long, 1 to 2 cm-wide, unwinged, leguminous fruit
develops. There is a ridge along the length of the fruit. The husk is very hairy and carries
up to seven seeds. The seeds are flattened uniform ellipsoids, 1 to 1.9 cm long, 0.8 to 1.3
cm wide and 4 to 6.5 cm thick. The hilum, the base of the funiculus (connection between
placenta and plant seeds) is surrounded by a significant arillus (fleshy seed shell).
Acknowledgment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucuna_pruriens

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Uses
The main uses of the crop are for food, forage and cover. It also has valuable
pharmaceutical properties.

As far as human consumption goes, velvet bean is eaten both as vegetable

(immature pods and leaves) and as seeds, after boiling to remove toxins. The
seeds are also prepared as a bean cake or fermented into tempe in Indonesia.
The beans are also used as a coffee substitute (like Jack bean) called nescafe.

Traditional Indian systems of medicine (Unani, Ayurveda) use velvet bean to

treat various conditions. In pharmacology, the L-DOPA, which it contains, has
been researched for its use in treating Parkinson’s disease. Velvet bean also
contains small amounts of serotonin, 5-HTP, nicotine, dimethyltryptamine,
bufotenine and 5-MeO-DMT.

As far as animal consumption is concerned, the whole plant comes into use: for
grazing after pods’ maturity; as forage, when pods are still young (90-120 days
after sowing). Yields of green fodder may be up to 20-35 t/ha (Ecocrop, 2011,
cited in www.feedpedia.org).

Velvet bean is a good cover crop and an effective green manure. It grows very
fast and does not need much soil preparation. As a legume it improves soil
fertility through nitrogen fixation; it protects the soil from heavy rains during the
wet season, serves as thick mulch when cut, protecting the soil from erosion and
weed germination. In intercropping systems, velvet bean is advantageous to the
companion crops, protecting them from pests and weeds (source: Feedipedia).

As far as new developments are concerned, according to N. Haq (in Biology &
Breeding of Food Legumes), the use of the seed as a source of high-viscosity
starch (as a thickening agent in food processing and as an adhesive in the paper
making and textile sectors) has been researched and proven to give good results.

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Winged Bean
Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.)
Names: (Eng:) winged bean, Goa bean, princess bean, Mauritius bean, asparagus
pea, four-angled bean, winged pea (source: Clovegarden).

The origin of the winged bean is thought to be Mauritius or Madagascar and

today it is distributed throughout the Asia and Pacific regions, the Caribbean
islands and Africa. It was discovered in the early eighties in the U.S.A. where
it was hailed as “a supermarket on a stalk” since almost all parts of the plant,
from the root tubers, to the pods, the leaves, the flowers and the seeds, are
edible. All parts are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals as legumes are.
The seeds have received particular attention since they are deemed to be like
soybeans. In fact winged beans are substituted for soy in tofu, tempeh or even
milk. Flavour wise it is pleasanter than soy and has an almost meaty texture.
It is also less flatulence inducing. The seeds can also be pressed for oil.
However winged bean seeds too have trypsin inhibitors and hemagglutinins
which inhibit digestion; they therefore require about 2-3 hours of cooking to
destroy these.

A great diversity of cultivars/varieties is to be found and several of them exhibit

differences at various levels. P. tetragonolobus can grow in poor clayey or sandy
soils because of its nitrogen capturing ability.

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Morphology
The winged bean plant grows as a vine with climbing stems and leaves, 3–4 m in height. It
is an herbaceous perennial, but can be grown as an annual. It is generally taller and notably
larger than the Common bean. The bean pod is typically 15–22 cm (6–9 in) long and has
four wings with frilly edges running lengthwise. The skin is waxy and the flesh partially
translucent in the young pods. When the pod is fully ripe, it turns an ash-brown color and
splits open to release the seeds. The large flower is a pale blue. The beans themselves are
similar to soybeans in both use and nutritional content (being 29.8% to 39% protein).
There is abundant variation in the appearance of winged bean. The shape of its leaves
ranges from ovate, deltoid, ovate-lanceolate, lanceolate and long lanceolate. The leaves of
winged bean also vary in colour appearing as different shades of green.
Stem colour is commonly green, but can vary from shades of green to shades of purple.
Pod shape is most commonly rectangular, but can also appear flat. Pod colour may also
vary from shades of cream, green, pink or purple. The exterior surface of the pod also
varies in texture. Pods can appear smooth or rough depending on genotype. Seed shape is
often round, but oval and rectangular seeds are also found. Seed colour changes based on
environmental factors and storage conditions. Seeds may appear white, cream, brown or
dark tan in appearance. The shape of winged bean tuberous roots also show variation.
Given its high nodulating ability, winged bean is suitable as a cover crop. It could also be
used as animal or fish feed (Wikipedia).
Acknowledgment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_bean

In spite of so much going for it, it is surprising that the winged bean is still not
so widely used.

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Yam bean
Pachyrhizus erosus
Names: (Eng:) yam bean, jicama, Chinese potato, Sa kot, Mexican yam bean,
Mexican turnip; (Hindi) shankhalu.
P. Erosus is a Central American root vegetable actually belonging to the bean
family. Native to Mexico, jicama, from Nahuati, xicamati, travelled all the
way to Philippines, where it is called singkama and other Asian countries
including China and India where it is known as shankhalu and kesaur. The
genus Pachyrizus, to which jicama belongs, is commonly called yam bean. Three
species are cultivated: P. erosus (Mexico & Central America), P. tuberosus (tropical
lowlands along the Andes) and P. ahipa (sub tropical east Andean valleys in
Bolivia & Argentina) (source: www.fao.org). P. erosus has two cultivated form:
jicama de agua and jicama de leche, reflecting their composition since the
elongated root of de leche has a milky juice. Leaves, seeds and pods are not
eaten as they are toxic. The root of the P. ahipa species is also eaten; however it
is a shrub and not a vine like P. erosus. It is not well known outside the Andes
and West Indies where it also grows (source: Clovegarden).
The P. tuberosus is an annual vine; its roots as well as its leaves, pods and beans
are eaten (source: Clovegarden).
There are many ways to eat this tuber but it is best eaten in raw preparations
as the flavour diminishes on cooking.
Nutrition wise jicama, also known as shankhalu in Bengal, is very good, being
high in dietary fiber and containing the pre-biotic oligofructose inulin. It also
provides potassium and vitamin C and is low in sodium.
Health wise, according to Rebecca Wood, it is an excellent dieter’s food, as
it is composed of 86-90% of water. It balances pitta and kapha. To be used
moderately in vata conditions.

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Legumes used as Vegetables, Health Foods,
Flavouring & Beverages
Some vegetable legumes feature under the pulses section as they are also used
as pulses. (examples P. vulgaris plants such as french beans & P. sativum, peas)

Vegetables
Cluster beans
Cyamopsis tetragonoloba
Names: (Hindi) Guar, guwar phalli
Guar bean, also called cluster beans, because of the way it grows, has never
been found in the wild so that its origin is not known. It has been domesticated
since centuries in India and Pakistan and today India is its biggest producer.
The beans are eaten green, as a vegetable in many regions of India; they
also yield the guar gum, about 7 times more thickening than corn starch. The
gum has many uses in the food industry but shot to fame when it was used
as a component to the “fracking” mix used for extracting oil. This caused a
commercial turbulence with prices first soaring and then crashing.

Khejri
Prosopis cineraria
The Khejri is a flowering tree of the arid West Asian regions and the Indian sub-
continent. It is also found in the Gulf countries such as Bahrain & UAE. It is in
fact the state tree of Rajasthan and Telangana in India, the national tree of the

99
United Arab Emirates and known as the Tree of Life in Bahrain where a large,
approximately 400 year old, tree is growing in a desert with no obvious sources of
water. Apart from its usage as a fuel source, fodder and green manure, in Rajasthan
the Khejri pods known as sangri are made into its signature dish, ker-sangri.
Its ecological importance is underlined in a story featuring in the section
Bouillons de culture.

Flavouring
Carob
Ceratonia siliqua
Names: St. John’s bread, locust bean
Carob is also known as St. John’s Bread because, according to the Bible, when
he was in the wilderness, St. John sustained himself on “locusts” which referred
actually to the carob pods.
Originating in the eastern Mediterranean region, the carob tree has today
spread to various parts of the world: Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Majorca and
Portugal, southern California and Mexico (where it was introduced by Spanish
missionaries), amongst others. It is said that in the Mediterranean region, in
times of food scarcity, peasants survived on the pods.
The carob pods have been used and are used in multiple ways: the pods, which
are quite sweet, are simply chewed; they are roasted and ground into a powder
which is often used as a cocoa substitute in various preparations, from milk shake
to pancakes, breads and candy bars. A syrup of thick consistency is made from
coarsely ground pods. The seeds also yield a gum which is like that of tragacanth,
a mid-eastern tree legume; it is used as a stabilizer and thickener in bakery goods,

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sauces, ice-cream etc. After gum has been extracted, the pod residue is processed
into starch and a sugar free flour, rich in protein, suitable for diabetics.
Roasted seeds have also been used as a coffee substitute.
Pods are also used as feed for various animals, excluding chickens. However,
since they contain tannins, which inhibit growth, they must be used in
moderation, especially in the case of children.
Health wise, carob has a good nutritional profile, rich in Carob beans were
vitamins and minerals. It contains less fat than chocolate, ground into milk to
no caffeine or oxalic acid and it is naturally sweet. prepare a pudding in
Source: www.hort.purdue ancient Egypt.
www.clovegarden.com
Rebecca Wood: the new whole foods encyclopaedia

Fenugreek
Trigonella foenum-graecum
This legume belongs actually to the spice box. Its rhomboid, yellow seeds are
highly prized in various Indian cuisines as are its dried leaves, specially the ones
from the region of Qasoor, in Pakistan, since they impart a rich, warm flavour to
sauces. Green leaves are also used to flavour pilafs and flat breads.
Fenugreek has various health benefits as it tones up the liver and the kidney. It
promotes digestion and regulates blood sugar. It reduces cholesterol, increases
milk flow, is beneficial to those suffering from gout, anemia and debility.
It has many cosmetic uses in India where it is used, as a paste, to promote hair growth.

Senna
Caesalpinioideae
Several Senna species were formerly placed under the genus Cassia. The genus
Senna includes herbs, shrubs and trees. Not all, but some Senna species are

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used for human consumption: Cassia gum, used as a thickener, comes from S.
obtusifolia. The leaves and flowers of Senna siamea are used in Thai cuisine.
Many Senna species have medicinal uses. Senna seeds are used with psyllium
fiber (isabgol) to regulate bowel movements.

Tamarind
Tamarindus indica
The genus Tamarindus has only this one species. It is a tree which may have
originated in Africa but is widely grown in India so much so that it was believed
to be a native of it, as the botanical and the fruit’s names suggest. Tamarind
comes from the Arabic tamarhind, Indian date. Indeed, today India is the largest
producer of tamarind.

The tree grows wild in several African countries and is prevalent throughout the
tropics.

Tamarind pulp has many culinary and medicinal uses: it is used as a souring
and flavouring agent in many Asian countries, including India; the not so secret
anymore ingredient in Worcester sauce is none other than tamarind; both in South
Asia and Mexico it is used to prepare a cooling drink because of its refrigerant
property; it is also laxative and carminative; all these properties make it a much in
demand ingredient in pharmacopoeia. It aids digestion, even that of elephants, so
it is believed! Leaves, bark and flowers, all have therapeutic values.

Twigs and pulp are even used for tanning and dying. Leaves are sometimes
used as feed.

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 Beverages
Rooibos (bush tea, red bush tea)
Aspalathus linearis
A popular tea in South Africa and neighbouring countries; has no caffeine and
can be left to brew for a long time without turning bitter. Rich in antioxidants.
Since the Rooibos plant is endemic to a small region of the Western Cape province
of South Africa and attempts to grow it outside this area have failed scientists feel
that climate change may threaten the survival of the plant. (Source: Wikipedia)

US trademark controversy
In 1994, Burke International registered the name “Rooibos” with the US Patent and
Trademark Office, thus establishing a monopoly on the name in the United States at a time
when it was virtually unknown there. When the plant later entered more widespread use,
Burke demanded that companies either pay fees for use of the name, or cease its use.
In 2005, the American Herbal Products Association and a number of import companies
succeeded in defeating the trademark through petitions and lawsuits; after losing one of the
cases, Burke surrendered the name to the public domain.

Legal protection of the name rooibos

The South African Department of Trade and Industry issued final rules on 6 September 2013
that protect and restrict the use of the names “rooibos”, “red bush”, “rooibostee”, “rooibos
tea”, “rooitee” and “rooibosch” in that country, so that the name cannot be used for things
not derived from the Aspalathus linearis plant. It also provides guidance and restrictions for
how products which include Rooibos, and in what measures, should use the name “rooibos”
in their branding.
Acknowledgment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos

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Licorice
Glycirrhiza glabra (other varieties include G.lepidola, G.uralensis, G. echinata)
Names: (Arabic) erk-soos; (Tel:) athimadhuram; (Kannada) jyeshthamadhu;
(Tamil) athimadhuram; (Malayalam) irattimadhuram; (Sanskrit) yastimadhu;
(Hindi) mulethi; (Sinhalese) Vel Mee; (Guj:) jethimadh; (Marathi) jyeshthamadh.

Licorice comes from the sweet roots of G. glabra, a herbaceous, perennial

legume plant, native to southern Europe, India and parts of Asia. The extract
from roots is used for flavouring, specially candies and tobacco. It has several
therapeutic uses in traditional medicine systems: it is anti-inflammatory and
anti- depressant; effective as a cure for asthma, colds, flu, chronic fatigue,
emphysema, heart burn amongst others. It is said, however, that excess licorice
can be harmful to the liver or cause high blood pressure, an unlikely eventuality,
given the amount of licorice one would have to ingest.

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Little known legumes
Rudimentary sketches of uncommon, region specific legumes;
The list is taken from Clovegarden and included here as a
reminder that using indigenous food increases food security.

Aila (Tahitian chestnut)

Inocarpus fagifer/edulis
A tree which grows in the tropical regions of south west Pacific and south east
Asian countries. Traditionally used by Polynesians and Melanesians. Seeds are
toxic when raw but edible when cooked.

Baru
Dipteryx alata
A tree only found in the Cerrado region of Brazil and Chiquitano region of
eastern Bolivia. The pulp of the fruit is sweet and made into jams, jellies and
liquor. Seed kernels are rich in flavour and used roasted, made into pesto and
even breads or cakes. Oil is also extracted from them.

Butterfly Pea (blue pea, Cordofan pea, bunga telang, in Malay)

Clitora ternatea
A native of Asia, now growing in Africa, Australia and the Americas. Young
pods are edible. Flowers yield a blue colouring agent. Roots have medicinal
properties.

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Elephant Ear tree (Guanacaste, caro caro)
Enterolobium cyclocarpum
A stately, flowering tree, which is the national tree of Costa Rica. Native to the
tropical regions of Americas: from central Mexico to northern Brazil to Venezuela.
Has a large canopy and bears pods similar to an elephant’s ear. Green seeds are
harvested and eaten boiled in Mexico.

Guaje (white leadtree, white popinac; huaxim, huaxcuahuitl; phakatin, in

Mayan, Nahuatl and Thai, respectively)

Leucaena leucocephala
A fast growing shrub, native to the Mayan region: from southern Mexico to
Central America. Flowers are white. Young beans can be eaten. Useful as animal
fodder and for green manuring.

Gum Arabic tree: (white Acacia, Senegalia senegal; red Acacia, Vachelia seyal)
The trees are native to the semi desert regions of sub-saharan Africa, Oman,
Pakistan and the west coast of India. Though pods are eaten locally, the trees
are better known for gum arabic, used as a food stabiliser.

Jatoba (Brazilian cherry, South American / West Indian locust, stinking toe etc:)
Hymenaea sp.
A tree that can grow up to 100 feet high and has a huge canopy. Widespread
in the Caribbean region as well as central/south America. Popular in North
America for timber. In South America the pulp of the fruit, which has a high
nutrition quotient, has many uses: eaten raw, used in powder form for bakery
goods, soups, stews, fermented drinks. A smelly legume but locally accepted.
Same sub family as tamarind.

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Jering: (dogfruit, jengko in Indonesia, jering in Malay, luk neang in
Thailand, Da nyin thee in Myanmar)
Archidendron pauciflorum
Tree bearing pods, native of South East Asia. Not pleasant smelling yet a
popular food in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Kalahari White Bauhinia

Bauhinia petersania
A native of sub-saharan Africa. Seeds highly appreciated in Botswana as nuts or
ground for coffee.

Monkey pod (Manilla tamarind, Madras thorn, ebony black bead,

camachili in Philippine)
Pithecellobium dulce
A native of the Pacific coast of tropical Mexico, Central and South America.
Yields curled pods containing black seeds surrounded by edible sweet white
pulp; seeds also edible and yield oil.

Marama or Morama bean (gemsbok bean, tamani berry)

Tylosema esculentum
A long living perennial plant, native to arid regions of South Africa, producing
edible pods and tubers of high nutritional value. Beans normally roasted. Plant
with a high potential.

Nam nam
Cynometra cauliflora
A tree with many branches, bearing flowers directly from the trunk; fruits have
a hard shell; their flesh is edible though sour when unripe. Used for chutneys,

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sambal and sauces. Possibly a native of Malaysia but also occurring in Sri Lanka
and western and southern India.

Prairie turnip (breadroot, pomme blanche, tipsin)

Psoralea esculenta
A native of North America; grows from tuberous roots; takes 2-4 years to
develop mature roots and so cultivation was not too prevalent; however roots
are very nutritious with high level of protein and vitamin C; eaten raw, cooked
or ground into flour for making bread.

Sathon
Millettia utilis; Milletia leucantha
Trees found in northern Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Used in Thailand for
making a popular sauce; was used for medicinal purposes earlier.

Velvet tamarind (pebble tamarind, gal siyambala, yee, luk yee: in Thai;
keranji in Malay; yoryi in Ghana; tsamian biri, icheku, awin in Nigeria)
Dialium indum
The tree yields a fruit like tamarind except sweeter; two varieties exist, a smaller
one with a dry, powdery pulp and a larger one, dry but with a sticky pulp;
normally sold as snack on the streets.

Water mimosa (sensitive neptunia)

Neptunia oleracea
Grows near streams or floating in still water; origin not known; could be southern
Mexico or northern South America; cultivated as a vegetable in Southeast Asia;
young leaves, tender pods and shoots eaten raw or used in curries.

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Yeheb Bush
Cordeauxia edulis
Sole species of Cordeauxia genus. The bush considered important for Somali
nomads; once very prevalent in Somalia and parts of southeast Ethiopia but
today due to over-grazing, war and drought it is much reduced. Attempts are on
to reinstate. Seeds are a little toxic but eaten roasted or boiled; water in which
they were boiled used as beverage sometimes; leaves too are used for tea.
Needs to be protected.

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Did You Know?

Liana entada is the longest pod going up to 5 feet,

also called monkey ladder or “escalera de mono” in Costa Rica.

Coffee, vanilla and cocoa are not legumes even though they are called beans. Vanilla
is from the orchid family, cocoa is from the hibiscus family & the pod of the cocoa is
actually a berry whereas coffee is from the Rubiaceae family and is the pit of a fruit.

Four of the most distinguished Roman families were named after beans:
Fabius from fava bean, Lentilus from lentil, Piso from pisum, the pea,
Cicero from Cicer arietinum, the chickpea.

The spice fenugreek is actually a legume

Tamarind is a legume which belongs to the Caesalpinioideae, a sub

family of the Leguminoseae family.

Bio-plastic can be made using using pea starch or soya starch. Henry Ford made a
car using bio-plastic from soya for its body. It is said that by 1935 he was using one
bushel of soya for every car manufactured (source: ncsoy.org).

Vigna mungo is actually not mungbean but uradbean; mungbean is Vigna radiata

Peanut in not a nut but a bean

These days vegans are using aquafaba, brine of chickpea and other beans, to replace
eggs in various desserts such as mousse, ice-cream, pavlova, meringue.

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 Illustration : Kaia Singh

111
Bouillons de Culture
Cultural Aspects of Legumes
With 700 genera and more than 18000 species,how could the Leguminosae
family, also known as Fabaceae not be intricately woven into the web of
our life? From herbs to shrubs to trees, they play an important role in our
diverse cultural ethos around the world, whether as signature, festive dishes or
emblematic reminders of history or linked to our beliefs. They are, as the French
say, incontournables in our lives.
Stories abound around them. They evoke emotions such as comfort and
nourishment, so much so that Esau preferred a bowl of lentil soup to his elder’s
birthright. They teach us resilience and generosity, thriving in hardy conditions
while contributing to the health of the soil. They bring an element of beauty
in our lives, through the wide array of stunning flowers they produce, amongst
which we can count the powder puff, sweet peas and lupines.
In food cultures too, since the hoary past, across continents, beans, peas
and lentils have been part of the human diet and their nurturing factor
acknowledged. Be it in India, where the Vedas recommended soopah, a chickpea
soup, to restore strength or in various meat eating countries where they were
called “the poor man’s meat” because of their protein content.
If we look at food cultures at a global level, we see that many signature dishes
have evolved around legumes, specifically pulses. From the cassoulet in France to
the Hoppin’ John, almost de rigueur for New Year’s feast in southern U.S.A, to
the chhole-bhature, rajmah-chawal in India to frejon (a coconut milk based black
bean pudding), eaten in some African countries, during Good Friday, when meat
is prohibited, to the Mexican refried beans, the list is unending.

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Let us now journey to India and look at some pulses based preparations,
traditionally offered as prasaad to the Divine or made during a particular
festival.

To start on a favourable note, the elephant-headed

Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati, lord of Auspicious
Beginnings, remover of obstacles, scribe of the
Mahabharata, to name but a few of his attributes, is
always propitiated with an offering of laddus, a sweet
using besan, chickpea flour. During Ganesha Chaturthi,
a festival in his honour, in Maharashtra, kaala vatana,
a black pea specific to the region, is cooked.

On Sankranti, when the sun transits into the zodiacal

sign Capricorn and heralds the start of spring,
khichadi, a dish combining rice and a pulse (either
split mung or urad), the perfect nutritional blend, is a must to ring in good
luck. In the south of India, on the same occasion, pongal, using rice, mung dal
and jaggery is made.

During Navratra, the nine nights when the Devi fights the demon, on the eighth
day, at the course of the ceremony called kanjak, young girls are honoured and
offered a dish of kaala chana, Bengal gram.

If some festivals are anchored in traditional or religious belief, others have

sprung up in response to a modern situation. We shall now explore some of
them, both in India and worldwide.

Festivals and fairs are fun and celebratory ways of perpetuating the memory of a
plant, an ingredient or a speciality. Apart from already existing festivals, given that
many beans/legumes, some specific to a region, are under threat of disappearing in
a monoculture driven world, quite a few new ones have sprung up around them.

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Here is a brief look at some:

• In France, two such festivals have been instituted not so long ago. We
have one for the haricot tarbais, an heirloom variety of white bean which
almost disappeared but was fortunately revived by a group of 64 farmers
who together produce 130 tonnes. The festival is held on the first week of
September. The other one is dedicated, since 2005, to the haricot de Soissons,
also a white bean variety, used in various ways including in what some
restaurateurs call “le soissonnais”, in reference to the cassoulet. One of the
several legends linked to it features below. Both the tarbais and the Soissons
bean have a red label and are registered under the “Protected Geographical
Region” of the EU, as does the bean “la Mogette” from the Vendée region.
• Bengaluru has a festival dedicated to the lablab bean, also known as the
hyacinth bean. It is called the Avarekai Mela and is held in the first week of
January. Many dishes, both sweet and savoury, are on offer during the event.
• In many parts of Gujrat, on and around the 14th of January, kite festivals are
organised to celebrate Sankranti. During these, food plays an important role
and specially on offer is the signature dish of the state, oondhyo, in which the
star ingredient is papadi val, a local lablab bean variety (see recipe section).
• Around the world, several harvest festivals are held during which bean/
legume delicacies feature in some form or the other: if in South India,
during Onam it is olan, a stew made with white pumpkin and red gram,
in Hong Kong, China, or Viet Nam, during the mid-autumn festival, it is
the red bean moon cake. Then, during Baisakhi, yet another Indian harvest
festival, celebrated mostly in Punjab, apart from sarson ka saag & makki
ki roti, pindi chana and chhole bhature, both using Cicer arietinum, regale
everyone (see recipe section).
• In Nigeria, it is the African honey bean, a black-eyed pea variety, which is
a festive dish during the Festival of Nations.

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 • In South America, beans have been playing a very important role since
Mayan and Aztec times. According to The Oxford Companion to American
Food and Drink (by Andrew F. Smith), indigenous people of what is called
Latin America, such as the Hopi, Papajos and Iriquois, grew several types of
beans and ”even worshipped them in ceremonial bean dances or festivals.”
Today also various types of legumes continue to play an important role in
the lives of people of this region.

Legumes and beliefs, rituals and practices

In India, black gram, called urad and chickpea, called chana, play an important
role in many rituals:
• Being a prized dal, whole urad bean is one of the offerings in ancestral
worship performed during the shraadh period, dedicated to honouring the
departed souls of our loved ones.
• To counter negativity, people put 14 beans of urad in oil, offer this to the
deity Hanuman and then see the reflection of their face in the oil.
• Prior to the marriage ceremony, during a ritual called haldi, the groom and
the bride to be are smeared with a paste of besan, chickpea flour, mixed
with turmeric. This combination is cosmetically very effective as besan
softens the skin and turmeric heals blemishes. A similar paste is smeared on
the scalp of infants after their mundan ceremony when their baby hair is
removed to allow for the growth of a thick mane.
• In the Jewish mourning tradition, lentils and boiled eggs are partaken by the
mourners as the round shape of these food items symbolises the life cycle.
• In Italy and Hungary, eating lentils on New Year’s eve symbolises the hope
of a prosperous year.
• In ancient Greece and Rome dried beans were used as ballots: white meant
acceptance and black rejection.

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 • In the Dictionary of Jamaican English it is said that Canavalia ensiformis
is called the overlook bean since it was believed to have a protective or
“overlooking” influence on provision grounds.
• In some Christian countries, twelve beans are put in an egg during Easter to
represent the twelve apostles.
• Macrotyloma geocarpum or Kersting’s groundnut, as this legume is also
called, plays an important role in West African culture, especially in Togo.
In fact this may have contributed to its conservation. Kaybé and Mauba
people use these seed during funeral ceremonies. In many areas, they
are exclusively intended for male members, in particular the headmen
and voodoo priests. In Ghana, the Sisala people only feed these seeds to
children who have lost their mothers during their funeral ceremony.
(source: www. prota4u.org)

Emblematic legume trees

• The Cockspur Coral Tree (Erythrina crista-galli), is the national flower of
Argentina and Uruguay
• The Elephant Ear Tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) is the national tree of
Costa Rica, by Executive Order of 31 August 1959.
• The Brazilwood Tree (Caesalpinia echinata) has been the national tree of
Brazil since 1978
• The Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha is Australia’s national flower.
• The Hong Kong Orchid tree, Bauhinia blakeana, is the national flower of Hong
Kong.
• The Khejri tree Prosopis cineraria is the sacred tree of the Bishnois as well as
the state tree of Rajasthan and Telengana. It is also the national tree of U.A.E.
• Sesbania bispinosa is the provincial flower of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
Province, Thailand.

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Stories: historical, apocryphal, fictional, biblical
Biblical
“And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from
the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to
Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same
red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his
name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this
day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am
at the point to die: and what profit shall this
birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to
me this day; and he swore unto him: and he
sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave
Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did
eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way:
thus Esau gave up his birthright.”
Genesis 25:29-34
Cited in: http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/35731/why-did-esau-despise-his-birthright

From the Book of Daniel in the Bible

The Old Testament carries the story of Daniel and his three friends. Taken captive to
Babylon for training, Daniel and his friends were offered the rich food and drinks
served at the king’s table. Daniel demurred, proposing a 10-day experiment wherein
he and his friends would eat the simple food known as pulse, and drink only water.
Pulse is a traditional dish of cooked edible seeds, usually leguminous, such as lentils,
chickpeas, and, perhaps, foods grown from those seeds. This plant-based diet was
successful as Daniel and his friends were later found to look better and test wiser
than those eating the king’s fare. Daniel was wise beyond his years.
Cited in: http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/home/the-benevolent-bean.html

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 Historical
Pythagoras & Fava Bean
Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C, discovered the
numerical relationships of musical tones and is considered the Father of
Mathematics. He is also remembered for founding a religious brotherhood
prohibiting eating of beans since they clouded thinking. The reason could be
because he may have suffered from favisim, a congenital adverse reaction to
fava beans. Ironically it is believed that he met his death at the edge of a bean
field, since he didn’t step into it when being pursued by the people of Crotona.
Source: the new whole foods encyclopedia and The Benevolent Bean

Apocryphal  /  Historical

A charming story is associated with the humble moth

bean; in fact two versions of the story exist. In one
version, while strolling to visit a mosque, not too
far away from the present Moth ki Masjid, Sultan
Sikander Lodi bent down to pick up a seed, dropped
by a bird. The seed happened to be a moth bean
one. The king offered it to his Wazir of whom he
was very fond. The gesture of his king so touched his
Wazir, Miyan Bhaiya, that he told himself the seed
must be put into the service of God. Taking it from
the Sultan, he there and then decided to plant it in
his garden. Over the years and multiple replanting
that one seed grew exponentially to give him a rich
enough harvest, enabling him to build a mosque. He
invited his king to lay the foundation of the place
Glimpse of Masjid Moth’s architecture

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of worship which epitomises the best there is in the architectural style of the
time. The mosque was naturally called Moth ki Masjid, the Mosque from moth
bean. In the other version of the story, the seed was given in jest by the Sultan.
However, not to be disrespectful towards his monarch, the Wazir honoured the
gift by planting the seed. When the masjid was built from the revenue of the
harvest, the Wazir invited his king to offer prayers there. An impressed Lodi
named the mosque Moth ki Masjid.

Apocryphal or historical, the story emphasises the power of a single seed, the
symbol of eternal renewability.

A sister story

Many stories revolve around the “haricot de Soissons”: one is very similar to
that of the moth story. In 1728, a Spanish diplomat is said to have given a big
fat white bean to the gardener Jacquot of the abbey of Saint Léger de Soissons,
whom he had befriended when he came for a conference on Gibraltar. Jacquot
multiplied the bean which became a particularity of Soissons. The Soissons bean
is very big and it is suppose to be P. coccineus and not P. vulgaris; today this
variety has a red label.

Chana, the Imperial Choice

Legend has it that when, imprisoned by Aurangzeb, Shah Jahan was asked to
choose just one food item for the rest of his life, he opted for the versatile
chana. This legume could be pounded into flour or besan, split into dal, cooked
as a curry or even transformed into kebabs and its leaves could be made into
saag. This choice was judicious not only from the culinary perspective but also
from the health benefits angle.

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 Khejri
The Original Chipko :
Before Rachel Carson
Dr. Vandana Shiva

My biological life and ecological journey

started in the forests of the Himalaya. My
involvement in the contemporary ecology
movement began with “Chipko”, a non-
violent peaceful response to the large-scale
deforestation that was taking place. Chipko
means “to hug”, “to embrace”. Women
declared that they would hug the trees, and the loggers would have to kill them
before they killed the trees. In the 1970’s, peasant women from my region
in the Garhwal Himalaya came out in defense of the forests. Logging had led
to landslides and floods, and scarcity of water, fodder and fuel. Since women
provide these basic needs, the scarcity meant longer walks for collecting water
and firewood, and a heavier burden. Women knew that the real value of forests
was not the timber from a dead tree, but the springs and streams, food for their
cattle and fuel for their hearth. The folk songs of that period said –

“These beautiful oaks and rhododendrons,

They give us cool water
Don’t cut these trees
We have to keep them alive”

But the Chipko of the 1970’s was not India’s first Chipko. In an earlier Chipko in
1730, 363 perople sacrificed their lives to protect their sacred Khejri tree (Prosopis
cineraria). The Khejri stands as a sentinel in the desert landscape of Rajasthan.

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The tree is vital to sustainability in the desert ecosystem. It is a source of fuel,
firewood and organic fertilizer. Its fruit Saangri is rich in protein and is used for
pickles and vegetables. The shade of the Khejri conserves moisture in the soil, and
offers protection from the scorching sun to humans and animals.

The Khejri was declared a sacred tree by Jambhoji, a saint, who founded the
Bishnoi religion. Bishnoi means 29, and the religion is based on 29 rules of
compassion and conservation. Air Commodore Bishnoi, a family friend from
Dehradun, and a supporter of the Chipko movement, has documented the first
Chipko of the eighteenth century in his book “Conservation as Creed”.

In 1484 – 1485, Rajasthan experienced a severe famine. Jambhoji gave

immediate relief by having seeds brought from Sindh (now in Pakistan). But he
also used the crisis to establish the 29 rules for long term ecological security.
Among these rules were compassion towards all living beings and not cutting
green trees. In a discourse to one of his disciples, Nathaji, Jambhoji said –

Do no fell a green tree,

This is a charter for everyone,
Be always ready to save (trees)
This is the duty of everyone.

Udhonji Nain, a poet saint who accompanied Jambhoji, put the 29 tenets to verse –

“karaen roonkh pritipal,

Khejra raakhet rachen”

(All trees should be protected with care, and the Khejra should be tended with love)

Over two centuries, people were living according to these tenets, creating
flourishing groves of trees and protecting wildlife in the Rajasthan desert.
One such Bishnoi village was Khejarli, situated 20 km south of Jodhpur.

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When the king’s palace was being built, a court official, Girdhar Das, was given
the responsibility for procuring firewood for burning the limestone for making
lime. They arrived at the house of Amrita Devi, who was home with her three
young daughters Asu Bai, Ratni Bai and Bhagni Bai. Amrita Devi had a giant
Khejri growing at her door step. When the king’s men started to cut the tree,
she tried to stop them, saying the cutting of green trees was against her religion.
She said she would rather sacrifice her life, than sacrifice the tree. Saying –
“sar ssathey roonkh rahey to bhi saasto jaan”
She offered her head, and the axemen who had come to cut trees cut off her
head. Her daughters followed. They too were beheaded. The news spread like
wildfire, and Bishnois of 84 villages gathered in Khejrali to join the stream of
volunteers to protect the trees. 363 people sacrificed their lives, and the sacred
Khejri trees were saved.
When the king of Jodhpur heard about this sacrifice, he immediately issued a
royal decree making all cutting of green trees and hunting of animals within the
revenue boundaries of Bishnoi villages a crime.
Even today, the Bishnois take people to court for killing their sacred species –
the Khejri, the black buck, and the great Indian bustard. Famous film stars from
Bollywood have had to face the court of compassion for killing wildlife.

The Indigo revolt

Indigo (a Fabaceae plant) planting in Bengal dated back to 1777. Louis Bonard
was probably the first indigo planter. With expansion of British power in the
Nawabate of Bengal, indigo planting became more and more commercially
profitable due to the demand for blue dye in Europe. It was introduced in large
parts of Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad, etc. The indigo planters left
no stones unturned to make money. They mercilessly pursued the peasants to
plant indigo instead of food crops. They provided loans, called dadon at a very

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high interest. Once a farmer took such loans he remained in debt for the whole
of his life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by the planters
was meagre,only 2.5% of the market price. The farmers could make no profit
growing indigo. The farmers were totally unprotected from the brutal indigo
planters, who resorted to mortgages or destruction of their property if they were
unwilling to obey them. Government rules favoured the planters. By an act in
1833, the planters were granted a free hand in oppression. Even the zamindars,
money lenders and other influential persons sided with the planters. Out of the
severe oppression unleashed on them the farmers resorted to revolt.

The Bengali middle class supported the peasants whole-heartedly. Harish

Chandra Mukherjee thoroughly described the plight of the poor peasants in
his newspaper The Hindu Patriot. However the articles were overshadowed by
Dinabandhu Mitra, who gave an accurate account of the situation in his play
Neel darpan. The play created a huge controversy.

The revolt started from Nadia where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas
first led the rebellion against the planters. It spread rapidly in Murshidabad,
Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, Narail, etc. Some indigo planters were
given a public trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many
planters fled to avoid being caught. The zamindars were also targets of the
rebellious peasants.

The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military, backed
by the British Government and the zamindars, mercilessly slaughtered a number
of peasants. In spite of this, the revolt was fairly popular, involving almost the
whole of Bengal. The Biswas brothers of Nadia, Kader Molla of Pabna, Rafique
Mondal of Malda were popular leaders. Even some of the zamindars supported
the revolt, the most important of whom was Ramratan Mullick of Narail.
Acknowledgment: Wikipedia

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A Fairy Tale
Princess and the Pea

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but
she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find
one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses
enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There
was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came
home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a
real princess.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the
rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate,
and the old king went to open it.

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious!
what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down
from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again
at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

Well, we’ll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing,
went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea
on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and
then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she
had slept.

“Oh, very badly!” said she. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven
only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I
am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!”

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Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right
through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real
princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no
one has stolen it.
Acknowledgment: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/PriPea.shtml

125
Whats Cooking?
Beans, Peas & Lentils
Arhar  /  Tuvar Dal Black Lentils (sabut masur)/ Khichdi
(Pigeon Pea) Red Lentils (lal masur) Amiri khaman
Chholar Dal Black Gram (urad) Dal palak soup
Rasam Masur pulav Sprouts and peanuts
Sambar Dhansak Moong besan chila
Kabuli Chana (Chickpea) Red lentil dal Sweet pongal
Pindi Chhole Urad sabut / Urad Dhuli Naurangi Dal (Rice Bean)
Vagharia (Black Gram)
Naurangi dal
Desi  / Kala Chana Dal makhani
Rice black gram poda pitha Rajma (Kidney Bean /
(Bengal Gram)
Khatta dhokla Common Bean)
Chatpatey channe
Sepu badi Rajma salad
Kala chana rasedar
Dahi bhalle Rajma madrah
Chana Dal Punjabi rajma
Garhwali   chainsoo
(Bengal Gram Split)
Safed urad ki dum dal (dry) Kulath Dal  /  Gehat
Masala vada
Moong sabut / Moong Dhuli (Horse Gram)
Bengal gram kheer (madgane)
Chana dal and ghia – sukha (Green Gram) Alan manga jholi
Pithore (besan) Green gram dal kheer Badil
Gatte ki sabzi (besan) Bhaja moong dal Phaanu
Jholi (besan) Moong and buckwheat Kulath saar

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Matki - Moth Dal
Matki usal
Matki farasbee bhaji
Missal pav

Lobia (Cowpea)
Black eyed beans curry

Bhatt Dal (Black Soya)

Ras
Bhatt ki churdkani
Thathawani

Legume Vegetables
Undhyo
Gawar phalli (cluster beans)
French beans Talasani
Peas
Peapods sabzi

Legumes used Around

the World
Pinto bean thanksgiving recipe
Baked bean
Moroccan chickpea soup
(vegetarian soup)
Mexican red bean
Stinky bean akhuni chutney
Lentil salad
Hummus
Tuscan bean soup

127
Chholar Dal
METHOD
INGREDIENTS Weigh out the yellow split peas and cook them
250 grams tuvar dal / arhar dal / yellow split pigeon peas in the pressure cooker with double the amount of
3 tej patta / bay leaves water and bay leaves and red chillies.
3 whole red chillies Leave the cooker on high flame for 15-20 minutes.
2 tbsp mustard oil Take half the coconut and pry out the flesh from
1 ½ tsp jeera / whole cumin seeds inside the shell.
½ tsp ginger paste Once peeled the coconut should be chopped into
½ tsp ground chilli tiny pieces and fried in the pre-heated mustard
1 tsp jeera / fresh ground cumin oil, until the pieces start to turn pink.
1 tsp dhania / fresh coriander Add whole cumin seeds, fry for a couple of minutes.
400 ml water Then add ginger paste, ground chilli, fresh ground
3 tsp sugar cumin and coriander and salt to taste.
1 tbsp ghee Fry the mixture for 2-3 minutes and then pour in
2 tsp ground garam masala the dal.
½ a coconut Stir all the contents, adding water when necessary
Salt to taste until all the grains of the dal are mashed.
Add the sugar.
Just before removing the dal from the fire add
ghee and garam masala.

Rasam
Method
Ingredients
Combine the arhar dal with 1 cup of water and
2 tbsp tuvar dal / arhar dal / yellow split
pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles or until the dal is
pigeon peas
cooked.
1 small tomato
Add the chopped tomato and tamarind water to
1 ½ tsp imli / tamarind soaked in ¼ cup water
the cooked dal and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
2-3 tsp rasam powder
Add the rasam powder, asafetida, turmeric powder
a pinch hing / asafetida
and salt with 3 cups of water and simmer for 8 to
a pinch haldi / turmeric powder
10 minutes.
salt to taste
For the tempering, heat the oil in a pan and add
For the tempering:
the mustard seeds and curry leaves.
1 tsp oil
When the seeds crackle, add the tempering to the
¼ tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds
prepared rasam and simmer for another 4 to 5
5-6 kadi patta / curry leaves
minutes. Serve hot, garnished with the coriander.

128
Sambar
Method
Ingredients Clean the vegetables and slice into long pieces.
Ingredients A Wash the dal.
½ bitter gourd (Pavakkai) Boil 3 cups of water and cook dal in it.
1 brinjal / Egg Plant / aubergines Add turmeric powder and curry leaves into the dal.
1 drum stick Keep it aside.
4 bhindi / okra / ladies finger Fry the ingredients in ½ tsp coconut oil.
4 red Chillies Split Into 2 Grind it to a smooth paste and keep aside.
Mash the tamarind in 1 cup water and strain.
Ingredients B
Boil the tamarind water with red chilli powder, salt,
1 cup sambar dal / masoor dal / red gram dal
curry leaves, asafetida and jaggery.
1sprig kadi patta / curry leaves
When it boils, add 2 tbsp of coconut oil.
½ tsp turmeric powder
Add the vegetables except the okra to it.
1 cup water
Cook till done and add the prepared dal into it.
Ingredients C Bring to a boil and add the okra and the ground
Golf ball size imli / tamarind masala.
1sprig curry leaves Remove from fire after boiling.
¼ tsp asafetida powder Season with rai and dried chillies.
1 tsp red chilli powder Sprinkle the sambar with chopped coriander leaves.
¼ tsp grated jaggery / cane sugar
2 tbsp coconut oil
salt to taste
1 cup water
Ingredients ‘D’
¼ tsp urad dal / white gram dal
2 tbsp dried dhania / coriander seeds
¼ tsp methi / fenugreek
4 dried chilli
½ tsp coconut oil
Ingredients ‘E’
2 tsp coconut oil
2 dried chillies split into two
1 tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard
Ingredients ‘F’
a few dhania / coriander leaves

129
Pindi Chhole
Method
Ingredients Soak chana dal & kabuli chana overnight or for 6-8 hours in
To pressure cook a pressure cooker.
1 cup kabuli chana / bengal gram Next morning, discard water. Wash the chana with fresh
2 tbsp chana dal / chickpea / split water and add elaichi, dalchini, tea leaves, soda, and
bengal gram enough water to cover the chana nicely.
2 badi elaichi / big cardamoms Pressure cook all the ingredients together to give one whistle.
1” stick dalchini / cinnamon After the first whistle, keep on low flame for about 20-25
2 tsp tea leaves tied in a muslin cloth minutes. Keep aside.
¼ tsp soda Heat the oil.
Add onions. Sauté till transparent. Add anardana powder.
Masala
Cook stirring till onions turn dark brown.
2 onions chopped finely
Add chopped tomatoes, ginger & green chilli. Stir fry for
1 ½ tsp anardana / pomegranate seeds
3-4 minutes.
powder
Add dhania powder, chilli powder & garam masala.
1 big tomato chopped finely
Mash and stir fry tomatoes till they turn brownish in colour
1” piece ginger chopped finely
and the oil separates.
1 green chilli chopped finely
Strain chana, reserving the liquid.
½ tsp garam masala
Remove tea bag from the boiled chana and add the chana
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder
to the onion-tomato masala. Mix well. Add salt.
1 tsp chana masala
Stir fry gently for 5-7 minutes. Add chana masala and salt.
salt & red chilli powder to taste Add the chana liquid. Cook for 15-20 minutes on medium
heat till the liquid dries up a little.
Vagharia
Ingredients
1 cup kabuli chana / bengal gram Method
6 black kokum Soak and pressure cook chana, wash and drain.
1 tbsp. dhania / coriander leaves finely Add one and half cups water.
chopped Soak kokum in 1/4 cup water for 5 minutes, keep aside.
1 stalk kadi patta / curry leaves Dissolve flour in 1/4 cup water, keep aside.
1 tbsp. besan / gram flour Heat the oil in a large pan. Add rai seeds and allow
1 tbsp. chilli powder spluttering. Add curry leaves, hing, kokum and water.
1/4 tsp. haldi / turmeric powder Add all other masala and jaggery. Stir fry for a minute.
2-3 pinches hing / asafetida Add chana with water, bring to a boil. Add besan; cook
1 tbsp. jaggery / cane sugar grated stirring, till boil is resumed. Simmer and cook till gravy
1/2 tsp. rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds is fairly thick. Add salt, stir and garnish with chopped
2 cups water coriander. Serve hot with steamed rice or parathas.
salt to taste

130
Chatpatey Chana
Method
Ingredients Soak chana overnight and next day boil it with
1 cup kala chana / black chana little salt in it.
½” piece ginger See to it that they are quite soft to eat.
1 tbsp jeera / cumin Grind together, coriander leaves, cumin seeds,
1 tsp kala namak / rock salt pudina, ginger, green chilies, kala namak.
¼ cup pudina / mint In pan heat oil and temper it with rai, hing and haldi.
½ cup coriander, chopped To that add ground paste and fry for a minute or so.
1 tbsp amchur / mango powder Then add the remaining seasoning to it and boiled
1 tbsp chat masala chana.
2 green chilies Add salt to taste and fry for couple of minutes.
½ tsp chili powder Do not add water, and garnish it with freshly grated
1 tbsp oil coconut, chopped coriander, onion rings and lemon
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder wedges.
½ tbsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds

Kala Chana
Ingredients Method
250 grams kala chana / black chana Soak the kala chana overnight.
To grind Boil it either in a cooker or a microwave cooker.
1 onion Grind the onion, ginger and the garlic flakes
4-5 flakes garlic coarsely, do not make it a paste, keep mix aside.
½” piece ginger Next take all the other spices and grind them
2-3 sticks dalchini / cinnamon together into a fine powder.
3-4 lavang / cloves Heat oil in a pan or a kadai and add the ground
2 star anise spices and fry for a few minutes, add the
2 elaichi / brown cardamom turmeric and the chilly powder too.
1 / green/white cardamom Now add the onion, ginger and garlic mix and
keep frying until you get a pleasant aroma.
To season
Finally add the boiled kala chana and cover it
¼ tsp haldi / turmeric powder
with a lid.
1 tsp red chilly powder
Allow it to boil for a few minutes.
salt to taste

131
Kala Chana - Rasedar
Method
Ingredients Wash and soak gram in water with the soda,
200 grams kabuli chana / bengal gram (soaked overnight.
overnight) Place gram, water, turmeric, salt, bay leaf, cardamom
1 litre water and cinnamon in a pressure cooker. Close the lid and
¼ tsp soda bicarbonate bring to boil, until you hear hissing sound. Turn heat
1 tej patta / bay leaf down to medium and cook for 20-30 minutes. Cool
2 elaichi / black cardamoms and check that they are soft when pressed. If not,
1 small dalchini / cinnamon stick cook for another 10 minutes.
¾ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Meanwhile, grind onion, ginger and garlic to a paste
salt to taste or chop/grate very finely.
Heat the oil in a pan.
Curry gravy
Add jeera and hing. As soon as seeds splutter, add
2-3 tbsp oil onion, ginger, garlic paste and stir fry until nicely
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds browned.
2 onions (peeled and quartered) Add dhania powder, chilli and stir for a few seconds.
3 garlic cloves Now add tomatoes and stir fry until oil separates
1” piece ginger from the paste.
2 tsp dhania / coriander powder Add to the gram mix in the pressure cooker. Add
¼ tsp chilli powder more water if needed
200 grams tomatoes (chopped) Pressure cook for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
1/4 tsp garam masala Open pressure cooker only when cool. Add garam
a handful of chopped dhania / masala and half the coriander leaves.
coriander leaves. Garnish with rest of coriander leaves and serve hot.
a large pinch of hing / asafetida
(optional)

132
Masala Vada
Method
Ingredients Wash and soak dal for 3-4 hours.
1 cup chana dal / split Bengal gram Keep 2 tbsp. dal aside, coarsely grind the rest.
1/2 cup onion finely chopped Mix all other ingredients, including whole dal.
1/2 cup coriander finely chopped Add 2-3 tbsp. hot oil to the mixture.
1/2 cup shepi / shepu / dill leaves, finely chopped Make flattened balls of the mixture with moist palm.
½ cup pudina / mint leaves, chopped Heat oil,
3-4 green chillies, finely chopped Carefully put the flattened rounds in the hot oil.
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Fry first one side then the other till golden brown.
oil to deep fry Serve hot with green chutney, tamarind chutney, or
ketchup

Bengal Gram Kheer (Madgane)

Method
Ingredients Cook the chana dal and cashew pieces in 3 cups
½ cup chana dal / split Bengal gram water.
1 cup jaggery / cane sugar grated When cooked, add jaggery and 2 cups water and
10 elaichi / cardamoms (powdered) cook well again.
2 cups coconut milk (extract of 1 Add the rice flour paste or fried semolina paste and
large coconut) stir well to avoid lumps.
½ cup cashew nut pieces Add coconut milk and cardamom powder.
½ cup rice flour or roasted wheat
semolina

Chana Dal & Ghia – Sukha

Method
Ingredients Cut the ghia into large pieces and keep aside.
500 grams chana dal / split Bengal gram Boil dal with turmeric powder and salt till done.
1 small ghia / kaddu / bottle gourd Heat oil and add tej patta and then onions.
1 onion Fry onions till they appear transparent and then add
1 tsp garam masala the cut ghia and salt as per taste
2 tej patta / bay leaves Let it cook; when done, add (1 tsp) garam masala
2 tsp turmeric powder and (1 tsp) red chili powder.
1 tsp red chili powder Mix dal and ghia and temper with 1 tbsp ghee,
2 lavang / cloves 1 tej patta and 2 cloves.

133
Pithore
Ingredients Method
For the pithore, mix together the gram flour, yoghurt,
For the pithore
ginger, garlic paste, red chilli power, turmeric powder,
salt, green coriander, ginger and green chillies.
1 ¼ cups besan / chickpea flour / gram flour
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste Add water and mix well.
1 tsp red chilli powder Heat the oil in a wok.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Gradually pour the above mixture into the wok.
2 green chillies (chopped) Cook till the mixture leaves the sides of the wok.
1½ cups water Spread the mixture uniformly in a greased tray.
¾ cup Let it set for 1-2 hours.
Cut with a knife into 1” cubes or diamond shapes.
For dry pithore
3 tbsp oil For dry pithore.
1 tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds
Heat the oil in a wok.
juice of 1 lemon
Add the rai seeds; when they crackle, add the pithore
For pithore with gravy pieces.
2 ½ cups dahi / curds / yogurt Stir gently for a minute.
½ cup oil Remove from the flame and arrange in a dish.
3 lavang / cloves Sprinkle the juice of a lemon on top, garnish with
2 black elaichi / cardamoms green coriander and serve as a snack.
2 dalchini / cinnamon sticks (small)
2 onions (finely chopped) For pithore with gravy
a few sprigs green dhania / coriander Heat the oil in a wok.
(chopped) Add the cloves, black cardamoms and cinnamon
4 tsp ginger-garlic paste sticks.
1”piece ginger (chopped) Sauté over medium heat for a few seconds.
1 tsp red chilli powder Add the onions and cook till they are golden brown
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder in colour.
2 tbsp dhania / coriander powder Mix the ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric
½ cup dahi / curds / yogurt powder, salt and coriander powder with the yoghurt.
1 cup water Add this to the wok
salt to taste Cook till the oil separates.
Add the pithore pieces and the water.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve hot.

134
Gatte Ka Saag
Method
(Steamed Gram Flour Dumplings In Spicy Gravy)
Make soft dough with the gram flour, ½ cup yoghurt,
Ingredients salt, 3 tbsp oil, ¼ tsp red chilli powder and 1 tsp
1¼ cup besan / chickpea flour / gram flour turmeric powder.
2 cups dahi / curds / yoghurt, sour Apply a little oil on the hands and roll out 1” x 6” long
2 tsp red chilli powder cylindrical rolls of the dough.
1 tsp haldi / turmeric powder Bring the water to a boil and slide in the rolls.
1 cup oil Cook for 5-7 minutes or till they become firm.
3 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Drain the water and put the rolls aside to cool for
1 cup water 15 minutes.
1 tbsp dhania / coriander powder Cut into ¾” – long pieces.
salt to taste Heat the remaining oil;
water to boil Add the jeera seeds and let them crackle.
Add the gram flour pieces and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
Put the remaining dahi in a bowl, add the leftover spices
and mix well. Add this mixture to the pieces, stir and
cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add salt to taste.
Add water and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 5-7 minutes.
If the gravy is very thick, add a little more water and
boil till the oil separates.
Serve hot.

135
Jholi
Method
Ingredients Jholi can be made of besan or rice flour.
1 cup besan / chickpea flour / gram flour Mix besan, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp salt.
3 cups dahi / curd / yogurt Make it into a thick paste by gradually adding water, and
½ cup oil or ghee continuously folding it with a spatula
4-5 garlic cloves Now mix the paste with curd and water.
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Churn the mixture well.
4-5 red chillies, whole Take a pan or kadai and heat the oil.
½ tsp dry dhania / coriander powder Add garlic cloves in the hot oil.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder When the garlic turns light brown, add red chillies and hing.
½ tsp red chillies powder Immediately pour the curd mix into the frying pan.
3 cups water Add turmeric powder, dry coriander powder, red chillies
salt to taste powder and salt.
a pinch hing / asafetida Cook till the gravy starts thickening and the raw smell of
chopped spinach or fenugreek leaves besan is gone.
(optional) Let the jholi cook for about 10-15 minutes.
If you are using rice flour then cook it for few minutes more.
Add more water to keep the consistency thin.
Before taking it off from heat, add handful of chopped
spinach leaves or chopped spring onion leaves.
Cook for few more minutes till the leaves are tender.
Garnish with a tablespoon full of ghee, coriander leaves
and green chillies (slit apart into two pieces) and serve with
steamed rice.

136
Masoor Pulav Method
Ingredients Soak the masur for 3 hours. Precook the masur till done.
1 cup basmati rice Wash and soak the rice for about 1/2 an hour.
½ cup whole masoor dal / red lentil Put 3 tbsp of oil in a thick kadai or wok, add jeera, fry for a second.
2 onions (cut lengthwise) Add onions and fry till pink.
2 tomatoes (chopped finely) Add ginger garlic chilly paste and fry for a second.
1½ tsp ginger, garlic and green chilly paste Add all the mixed vegetables and fry for a minute.
1½ cups cubed mixed vegetables (beans, Add 1 3/4 cup of water and let it come to a boil, add salt to taste.
carrots, green peas etc) Add the rice, precook masur and biryani pulav masala too.
1 tbsp garam masala Stir lightly and let the rice get cooked on low flame till all the
3 tbsp oil water evaporates.
1 tsp jeera / cumin Note: if after all the water has evaporated and rice appears dry
salt to taste and under cooked you can sprinkle water and cook on
low flame. Masoor pulav is ready.

Dhansak
Ingredients
¼ cup tuvar dal / arhar al / yellow split pigeon peas
¼ cup moong dal / green moong dal Method
¼ cup urad dal / white gram dal
Wash all the dals together.
¼ cup masur dal / red lentil
Add 2 to 2 1/2 cups of water.
¾ cup green pepper diced
Add broccoli, carrots, celery and cook in the
½ cup broccoli
pressure cooker.
½ cup baigan / eggplant / aubergines
Heat oil; add cumin seeds, green chilies, onion
½ cup carrots
and fry until onion becomes golden brown.
½ cup celery
Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for some more
½ cup tomatoes
time.
½ cup onions
Add tomatoes, green pepper, and eggplant.
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
Cover the vessel. Add some salt. Stir occasionally.
1 tbsp green chilies
Cook the vegetables.
1 tbsp garam masala
Then add cooked dal.
¼ tsp jeera / cumin seeds
Add some water, garam masala, coriander leaves,
1 tbsp oil
some salt if needed.
½ tsp ghee (optional)
Stir until boiling.
dhania / coriander leaves
Add ghee for great taste.
salt to taste

137
Red Lentil Dal
Method
Ingredients Boil 1 litre water in a deep vessel.
1 cup masoor dal / split red lentils soaked for 30 min Add washed, drained, dal and methi seeds.
¼ tsp methi / fenugreek seeds Cover and simmer for one hour, or till dal
1 small tomato (finely chopped) is mushy.
1 flake garlic (crushed) Or pressure cook for 3-4 whistles, till soft.
1 stalk curry leaves Heat ghee in a pan; add mustard seeds,
1 tbsp dhania / coriander (finely chopped)
hing, allow spluttering.
2 green chillies (halved)
Add garlic, curry leaves, tomatoes.
1 tsp red chili powder
¼ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Add all dry masala powders, salt, and 2
¼ tsp dhania / coriander powder tbsp of water.
¼ tsp garam masala powder Stir and cook for a few seconds.
¼ tsp jeera / cumin powder Add cooked dal, stir and bring to a boil.
½ tsp jeera / cumin & rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds Cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
2-3 pinches hing / asafetida powder Take off fire, add lemon juice.
2 tbsp ghee or oil Stir well, add coriander leaves.
Juice of ½ a lemon Serve hot with steamed or jeera rice.
Salt to taste

Dal Makhani Method

Pick, wash and soak black urad and rajma overnight in 5
Ingredients
cups of water.
100 grams whole urad Cook the soaked dal and rajma in 5 cups of water with salt,
25 grams rajma / kidney beans red chili powder and chopped ginger till dal and rajma are
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds cooked / soft.
1 tbsp chopped garlic Heat the oil and butter in a thick bottomed pan.
1 tbsp chopped ginger
Add cumin seeds, let it crackle. Add chopped onions and
1 tsp garam masala powder
cook till golden brown in colour.
½ cup fresh malai / cream
Add chopped ginger, garlic and chopped tomatoes. Sauté till
1 tbsp red chili powder
50 grams butter tomatoes are well mashed and fat starts to leave the masala.
½ cup chopped tomato Add boiled dal and rajma to this.
1 cup chopped onion Add garam masala powder and simmer on very slow flame for
1 tbsp oil 15 minutes; add fresh cream and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
salt to taste Serve hot with naan or paratha.

138
Safed Urad ki Dum Daal (dry)
Method
Ingredients Soak dal in clean water for 30 minutes and drain. Put a cooking
250 gms urad dal vessel on fire and add ghee; break the whole red chillies into the
3 red chillies whole pot. Add soaked dal, chopped ginger and salt.
1 tbsp ginger chopped Add enough water so that the dal cooks fully and is intact. It
ghee should not becone soggy or very soft.
salt to taste Temper with fried brown onions. Distribute the leftover ghee all
mint for garnishing over the dish.
Garnish with fresh chopped mint.
Serve with roti or parantha.

Rice Black Gram Poda Pitha Method

Ingredients Wash the rice and black gram dal under running water and soak in
250 grams rice water for about 5 hours separately. Remove extra water from both.
250 grams whole urad Grind the soaked black gram dal into paste and keep it aside
½ a fresh coconut Grind half of the soaked rice into coarse powder and mix it with
150 grams sugar the black gram paste. Add little water and salt.
150 grams desi ghee / clarified butter This paste should resemble an idli mixture.
Keep the mixture overnight for fermentation.
Before cooking, add the coconut pieces and sugar.
Pour half of the ghee into a deep pan or kadai and heat.
Pour the mixture into the pan and cover with metal lid.
Let this simmer at low temperature for ½ an hour.
Keep stirring; pour the rest of the oil and simmer for another 15
minutes. Place the poda pitha on a plate and cut into pieces.

139
Khatta Dhokla
Method
Ingredients Alternatively, soak the rice and urad dal overnight in
3 cups rice plenty of water and grind in a mixer the next day.
1 cup urad dal / split black lentil Add the sour curds and hot water and make into a
½ cup sour dahi / curds / yogurt thick paste.
2 tbsp green chilli – ginger paste Allow to ferment for at least 6 to 7 hours.
¾ tsp soda bi-carb Add the soda bi-carb, oil, asafetida, green chilli-ginger
¼ tsp hing / asafetida paste and salt and mix well.
1 tbsp kali miri / black pepper, coarsely ground Apply a little oil to a metal thali (flat metal plate
3 tbsp oil with low rim). Pour enough batter so as to fill half
salt to taste the height of the thali.
This should ordinarily be about ½ cup for a small thali.
Sprinkle a little ground pepper on top.
Steam for 10 minutes.
Repeat with the rest of the batter.
Sepu Badi Cut into pieces and serve with oil and green chutney.
Ingredients
500 Grams urad dal / split black lentil
(soaked overnight and ground coarsely) Method
For Masala
Grind the soaked dal to a rough consistency.
1 ½ tbsp jeera / cumin seeds
1 ½ tbsp dhania / coriander seeds Mix all the ingredients listed under masala.
2-3 brown elaichi / cardamom Add the masala mixture to dal.
2 green elaichi / cardamom Take a huge oval-shaped lump of this mixture and
1-2 whole red chillies drop it in boiling water.
2-3 lavang / cloves Let it boil on high flame for 5 minutes till it
1 inch dalchini / cinnamon automatically starts surfacing.
pinch of hing / asafetida Drain water and cool cooked portion before cutting
salt to taste it into pieces.
For Gravy Deep fry these cut pieces or badis and keep aside.
½ kg palak / spinach (cut fine) Heat the oil. Add spinach and the remaining
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder masala, turmeric, salt and water.
1 glass water Cook till the water evaporates.
salt to taste At this stage you may add coriander and garam
oil masala to spice up the dish.
For Garnish julienne of dry dates Steam for six to seven minutes.

140
Dahi Bhalle
Method
Ingredients Wash and soak dal for 3 hours in enough water to
250 grams urad dal / split black lentil cover the dal.
1 onion chopped finely Drain water and grind, add chopped onion, ginger,
1” piece ginger (chopped) coriander, chillies, salt, cumin seed and soda.
1 small bunch green dhania / coriander (chopped) Heat the oil.
2 green chillies With moistened hands, make bhalla of 2” disc with
½ tsp jeera / cumin seed dal batter.
½ tsp salt Deep fry each bhalla till light brown. Drain oil, keep
¼ tsp soda-bi-carb aside. Soak it in hot water for ten minutes.
750 grams dahi / curds / yogurt Press out water lightly. Beat curds; add salt and 1/2
15-20 raisins tsp. jeera. Soak the raisins in water for ten minutes.
Add to the curd. Lay bhallas in a flat dish, pour
water to soak dal
curds on it, garnish with red chilli powder, chopped
oil for frying
coriander, and powdered cumin seeds.
Serve with tamarind chutney and the beaten curd.

Garhwali Chainsoo
Method
Ingredients Place an iron frying pan (kadai) on a moderate flame.
1 cup whole urad Put sabut urad (black gram) in it and roast it without oil for
½ cup oil about 3 to 5 minutes or till the pleasant aroma of roasted
4-5 cloves garlic seeds is released.
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Do not over cook it. Take off the flame.
4 kali miri / black pepper corns Grind the roasted seeds into a coarse powder.
4-5 red chillies, whole Heat oil in the kadai and add garlic cloves, when the garlic
½ tsp dry dhania / coriander powder turns light brown, add cumin seeds, red chillies, black pepper,
¼ tsp haldi / turmeric powder and hing. Immediately add the ground dal and fry it for 1-2
½ tsp red chillies powder minute or so. Add turmeric powder, dry coriander powder,
3 cups water red chillies powder, salt and water. Bring it to boil.
½ tsp garam masala Cover and cook till the dal becomes very soft.
a pinch hing / asafetida Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Before taking it off the heat,
salt to taste sprinkle garam masala over chainsoo.Garnish with pure ghee
and chopped coriander leaves. Serve with hot steamed rice.

141
Green Gram Dal Kheer
Ingredients
Method
2 cups moong dal / green gram dal
Roast the dal in ghee.
1 coconut (grated, ground, milk
Add 6 cups water and cook.
extracted)
When well-cooked, add jaggery.
1 tbsp ghee / clarified butter
Cook for ten more minutes, add coconut milk and
1 1\2 cups jaggery / cane sugar
cardamom powder, and remove from heat.
6 cups water
elaichi / cardamom powder

Bhaja Moong Dal (Broiled Green Gram)

Method
Ingredients Broil the split green gram on a griddle (tava) till
200 grams split moong dal / split green gram golden brown.
1 tbsp oil Boil 2 cups of water and cook the split green
2 tsp aniseed gram till done. Heat the oil in a small pan; add
3 lavang / cloves aniseed, cloves and green chillies. Sauté just for
3 green chillies slit a few seconds and then add to the split green
1 tsp sugar gram. Add the sugar and salt, stir well and
Salt to taste serve immediately.

Moong and Buckwheat Khichdi

Method
Ingredients Clean and wash the moong dal and buckwheat
½ cup yellow moong dal / split yellow gram together. Drain and keep aside.
1 ½ cups kuttu / kutti no daro / buckwheat Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the
2 kali miri / peppercorns peppercorns, cloves and cumin seeds.
1 to 2 lavang / cloves When the cumin seeds crackle, add the
1/ tsp jeera / cumin seeds asafetida, followed by the moong dal and
¼ tsp hing / asafetida buckwheat and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the turmeric powder, salt and around 4
¼ tsp haldi turmeric powder
cups of water and pressure cook for 2 to 3
1 tsp oil
whistles. Serve hot.
salt to taste

142
Amiri Khaman
Method
Ingredients For khaman
For khaman Wash and soak the dal for 4 to 5 hours
Grind the soaked dal in mixer till fine. Keep the
1 cup chana dal / split Bengal gram batter fairly thick. Add salt, mix well; pour into a
Salt to taste. pressure cooker container. Cover with lid, pressure
For topping cook for 2 whistles. Cool. Crumble the khaman
1/4 cup imli / tamarind chutney The result should be like bread crumbs.
2 tbsp green chutney To serve
1 cup fine bland shev Spread some khaman crumbs on a serving plate.
2 onions chopped finely On this sprinkle the chutneys.
2 tbsp dhania / coriander leaves finely chopped Sprinkle salt, cumin, shev, onions and coriander.
1 tsp crushed jeera / cumin seeds Serve immediately.
salt to taste

Dal Palak Soup Method

Ingredients Thoroughly wash the dal and spinach separately
and remove the thick stems of the spinach. Cook
200 grams palak / spinach leaves them in a pressure cooker until they are well
1 tbsp moong dal / green gram cooked. Blend the spinach and dal to a smooth
1 tbsp butter puree in a blender.
1 tbsp maida / refined wheat flour Heat pan and put the butter in it Add the flour and
½ tea cup milk cook a little. Add the milk, puree, salt and pepper
salt & pepper to taste Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring once in 2 minutes.

Sprouts and Peanuts Salad

Method
Ingredients Roast the peanuts and remove skin.
50 grams sprouted moong / green gram Mix the sprouted moong, chana and peanuts
50 grams sprouted chana / chickpea / bengal gram Add black pepper, salt and lemon juice to the
50 grams peanuts mixture and mix well
1 lemon If required garnish with chopped coriander and
¼ tsp kali miri / black pepper powder serve.
salt to taste

143
Moong Besan Chila
Method
Ingredients
For The Stuffing
1 cup green moong dal / split green gram
4 green chillies Mash the potatoes coarsely or cut into very small pieces.
2 tbsp fresh dahi / curds / yogurt Heat the ghee in a vessel, add the cumin seeds and
1 tbsp besan / chickpea flour / gram flour onion and fry for at least 3 minutes.
½ tsp baking powder Add the green chillies and fry again for 1 minute.
a pinch hing / asafetida Add the potatoes, coriander, chilli, powder and salt. Mix
salt to taste well and cook for 1 minute.
oil for cooking Cool the mixture.

For the stuffing For the chilas

4 potatoes boiled Soak the dal overnight or for at least 3 to 4 hours.
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Grind the soaked dal with the green chillies and curd.
1 onion chopped Add the besan, asafetida, baking powder and salt and
4 green chillies mix well. Heat a non-stick tava and spread a little of the
1 tbsp dhania / coriander chopped moong dal mixture
½ tsp chilli powder Spread a little stuffing on each round and smear a little
1 tsp amchur / mango powder oil on the sides. Cook on both sides.
1 tbsp ghee Repeat with the remaining mixture and stuffing.
salt to taste

Method
Wash and rinse the rice and green gram separately.
Sweet Pongal Lightly fry the green gram dal. In a large vessel, boil the
Ingredients milk and water and add the rice and green gram dal.
Cook till all the liquid has been absorbed and it looks
2 cups rice soft and pulpy. Add the jaggery and cook over a slow
¾ cup split moong dal / green gram dal fire stirring it often to prevent sticking to the bottom
1-3 cups milk 4 tsp of ghee could be added to prevent this.
3 cups jaggery / cane sugar It should be kept on the fire till the jaggery mixes well
½ grated fresh coconut with rice and the pongal becomes sticky in consistency.
50 grams cashew nuts Fry the cashew nuts, raisins and coconut gratings in a
50 grams raisins little ghee.
7-8 elaichi / cardamom Add the cardamom powder to fried ingredients, fry a
½ cup ghee little more, and then mix into the pongal.
Add the remaining ghee in liquid form to the pongal.
Remove from fire and serve.

144
Naurangi Dal
Method
Ingredients Wash dal in water until water runs clear, then leave to soak in
1 cup naurangi dal / rice bean cold water for about an hour. Drain dal and keep aside.
500 ml water Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the chopped onions, ginger
1 onion, medium and garlic. Stirring frequently, fry for a few minutes until the
¼ cup oil mixture turns to a pale golden colour. Add 3-4 tbsp of water
1“piece ginger, crushed if the mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan. Add chilli
5 garlic cloves powder, turmeric, salt and coriander powder and about 5 tbsp
2 green chillies chopped of water to prevent the spices from burning. Stirring frequently,
2 tbsp green coriander, chopped fry the mixture for about 5 minutes to a golden colour. Add
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder the tomatoes. Still stirring frequently, fry the onion mixture for
1 tsp garam masala about 10 minutes until the tomatoes are reduced to a pulp. Add
1 tomato medium a little water, if necessary, to prevent the mixture from sticking
1 tsp red chilli powder to the bottom of the pan. Keep frying until the oil begins to
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder separate. Add the drained dal and water. Mix well, reduce the
1 tsp salt heat, cover and allow to cook for about 30 minutes or until dal
is tender and all the moisture has dried up. Add garam masala,
coriander leaves and green chillies. Serve with naan, or roti.

Rajma Salad
Method
Ingredients Drain out the water from the soaked rajma.
¼ cup rajma / kidney beans soaked Add fresh water and salt and pressure cook the rajma
overnight until soft but not mushy.
1 tsp lemon juice Drain and cool completely.
¼ cup cucumber finely chopped In a bowl, combine with the cucumber, tomato,
1 tsp roasted jeera / cumin powder lemon juice, cumin powder and salt and mix well.
¼ cup tomato chopped Serve immediately.
salt to taste

145
Rajma Madrah
Ingredients
Method
1 cup rajma / red kidney beans soaked
overnight Cook beans with salt till done.
2 cups dahi / curds / yogurt Beat curd and gram flour together.
1 tbsp besan / chickpea flour / gram flour Heat clarified butter.
½ cup ghee / clarified butter Add bay leaf and splutter garam masala.
1 tsp red chilli powder Add curd mixture and cook till it starts browning.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Add rajma and continue to cook for a few minutes.
½ tsp methi / fenugreek seeds (roasted and Add chilli powder, turmeric, fenugreek and cook for a
powdered) while on low flame.
1 tsp whole garam masala (mixed spices) Add dry fruits, coconut and serve hot.
1 tej patta / bay leaf
½ cup cashew nuts and almonds (chopped)
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup dry coconut (finely sliced)
salt

Punjabi Rajma
Method
Ingredients
Soak rajma in water overnight.
1 cup rajma / kidney beans
Pressure cook the rajma until tender.
1 onion
Cut onion, tomato and green chilli.
1 tomato
Grind them in the mixer along with ginger and garlic to make a
1 green chilli
paste. Heat the oil in a pan.
4-5 garlic cloves
Add the paste and fry on medium heat until golden brown
1” piece ginger
(the oil starts separating from the mixture).
1 tsp red chilli powder
Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder,
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder
garam masala and salt. Mix well.
½ tsp dhania / coriander powder
Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add enough water to make thick gravy.
1 tsp garam masala powder
Bring the gravy to boil.
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Add cooked rajma along with the water in which it was cooked.
salt to taste
Stir well and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes.
dhania / coriander leaves for
Garnish with chopped green coriander leaves and serve hot.
garnishing

146
Alan Manga Jholi
Ingredients
300 grams kulath / horsegram Method
1 tsp haldi / turmeric powder Chop ginger and garlic.
50 grams rice paste Boil dal and add ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander,
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder half of the chilli powder and salt.
1 tsp red chilli powder When done, add rice paste and cook for some time.
20 grams ginger Temper with cumin seeds, hing, and rest of the chilli
a pinch hing/ asafetida powder.
4-5 garlic cloves
½ tsp jeera / cumin seeds

Badil
Method
Ingredients Put the frying pan on a moderate flame.
1 cup kulath / horse gram Pour one-teaspoon oil.
2 cups mix of tuvar / arhar, moong, and chana dals When the oil gets hot temper it with hing and
½ cup oil or ghee ajwain. To this hot oil mixture add two cups
10 garlic cloves water and salt to taste. When the water starts
1“piece ginger boiling add the mixture of all the pulses (dals).
1 tsp ajwain / carom seeds Cover with a lid and cook for about 10 minutes
3-4 green chillies on a moderate flame. Add some water if required
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Crush and grind the cooked pulses with a ladle.
4 kali miri / black peppercorns Continue doing this till the pulses do not stick to
1.27 cm dalchini / cinnamon the ladle. Now apply some oil in a thali / plate
4 lavang / cloves with raised edges and pour the cooked pulses in
½ tsp dry dhania / coriander powder it. Spread uniformly, and allow it to cool.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder On cooling and solidifying cut it into small cakes
½ tsp red chilli powder called badil. Shallow fry these badils.
2 cups water Serve on a plate with sweet & sour chutney and
salt to taste garnish with coriander leaves and grated coconut.
a pinch hing / asafetida

147
Phaanu
Method
Ingredients Soak kulath in water overnight. In the morning wash and rub
1 cup kulath / horse gram the dal in running water so that it is free of seed covering
½ cup oil (chilka). Then, grind it into a dry thick paste in a mixer or
4-5 garlic cloves on a silbatta along with green chillies, garlic and ginger. Place
1/2”piece ginger a tawa on a moderate flame. Put some oil and make thick
3-4 green chillies pancakes with the dal paste. Use only half of the paste for
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds making the cakes. Mix water with the remaining paste making
it a pouring consistency. Heat oil in a pan and add hing.
½ tsp dry dhania / coriander powder
Now add the kulath paste, turmeric powder, dry coriander
¼ tsp haldi / turmeric powder
powder and salt. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes on
3 cups water
slow fire. Add the cakes to the gravy and continue simmering
a pinch hing / asafoetida
for another ten minutes. The gravy should be of a pouring
salt to taste
consistency. If thick add some water and heat till it boils.
Garnish with pure ghee and chopped coriander leaves. Serve
with steamed rice.

Kulita Saar
Method
Ingredients Cook the kulath in a pressure cooker.
1 cup Kulath / Horsegram Heat the oil. Fry the coriander seeds.
½ cup grated coconut Grind with coconut, red chilies, tamarind.
1 tsp dhania / coriander seeds Grind cooked kulath with the ground masala.
2 green chillies Add water to make it a little watery.
4 to 5 red chillies Add chopped onion & bring it to boil.
1 onion Add green chillies and salt. Cook for about 15-20
minutes. Heat the oil for seasoning. Add garlic to
9 to 10 garlic flakes
the oil and cook till the garlic turns a light brown.
2” piece imli / tamarind or 1 tsp pulp
Add this to Saar.
oil
salt

148
Matki Usal
Method
Ingredients Heat the oil, drop in the mustard seeds and let
1 cup moth/matki beans soaked overnight them splutter.
2 onions medium sized, chopped Add the chopped green chillies, garlic and curry
1 tsp red chilli powder leaves (optional).
1 tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds Stir fry for a few seconds.
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds roasted and powdered Now add the chopped onions and sauté on
4 flakes garlic chopped medium heat for 5 minutes or till the onions are
4 green chillies chopped lightly browned.
1 tsp goda masala or garam masala powder. Add the jeera, haldi and red chilli powders.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Add the hot spice mix, jaggery, salt, tomatoes and
2 tomatoes medium sized, chopped fry till oil separates.
1 tsp jaggery / cane sugar grated Add the drained moth beans / matki.
1 sprig kadi patta / curry leaves optional Mix well and add water just enough to cover this
2 tbsp oil mixture.
salt to taste Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on medium / low
coconut shavings (optional) heat for 20 minutes or till the moth beans are
finely chopped dhania / coriander leaves to fully cooked.
garnish. Garnish with coconut shavings (optional) and finely
chopped coriander leaves.

Matki Farasbee Bhaji

Method
Ingredients
Heat the oil in a pan.
2 cups chopped green beans Add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
1½ cup sprouted matki/moth Then add the hing.
1 tbsp goda masala
Add the chopped beans, sprouts and haldi
1 tsp chilli powder
powder. Sprinkle some water on them.
2-3 tbsp crushed jaggery / cane sugar
3 tbsp fresh/frozen grated coconut (optional) Cover with a lid and steam them till they are
¾ cup hot water cooked yet have a slight crunch.
1 tsp oil Now add the hot water and all the other
½ tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds ingredients.
chopped dhania / coriander leaves (optional) Simmer very gently for 3-4 minutes.
a pinch hing / asafoetida Garnish with some more chopped coriander
a pinch haldi / turmeric powder leaves or grated coconut.
salt to taste

149
Missal Pav
Ingredients
Method
1 cup moong / green gram sprouts
1 cup matki / moth sprouts Mix sprouts in a colander and wash under
2 tbsp oil running water for a minute. Drain and keep
½ tsp rai / sarsoon / mustard seeds aside. Heat oil in a pan; add hing, rai seeds,
a few kadi patta / curry leaves kadi patta and half the onions. Sauté for a
2 onions (finely chopped) minute and add green chillies. Add garlic paste
2 green chillies (slit) and ginger paste. Stir well and sprinkle a little
1 tsp garlic paste water. Add haldi powder, red chilli powder,
1 tsp ginger paste dhania powder, jeera powder and mix well.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder
Add the sprouts. Add salt to taste and three
1 ½ tsp red chilli powder
cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add garam
½ tsp dhania / coriander powder
½ tsp jeera / cumin powder masala powder and coriander leaves, keeping
1 tsp garam masala powder aside some for garnish.
2 tbsp fresh dhania / coriander leaves (finely chopped) Cover and cook for ten to twelve minutes.
½ cup shev To serve: pour a ladleful of cooked sprouts in a
a pinch hing / asafoetida deep bowl. Sprinkle generously with shev.
salt to taste Sprinkle remaining onion, coriander leaves and
lemon juice as required freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve with lemon
lemon slices as required slices and pav.
8 pavs (bread)

Black Eyed Beans Curry

Method
Ingredients Soak the beans overnight in water.
2 cups lobia / black eyed beans Next day, drain beans, cover with fresh water and
1 ½ tsp dhania / coriander powder bring to boil. Add salt, dhania, jeera and haldi.
¾ tsp jeera / cumin powder Simmer until beans are just tender, about 30 to 45
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder minutes. Heat the oil in deep saucepan.
2 tbsp oil Add onion, garlic, ginger and jeera.
1 onion small size, chopped Fry for 10 minutes and add tomato.
2 garlic cloves chopped Cook for another 5 minutes and add the lobia /
¾“piece ginger chopped black eyed beans and cooking liquid.
½ tsp jeera / cumin seeds Continue to simmer, uncovered, until lobia are soft
1 tomato medium sized, chopped but not completely dissolved.
salt to taste Mixture should be soupy.

150
Ras
Ingredients Method
½ cup black bhatt / black soy beans Soak all the dals overnight and next day boil them
¼ cup rajma / kidney beans in plenty of water till soft.
¼ cup lobia / black eyed beans Mash the dals well and strain the ras i.e. the stock.
¼ cup kala chana / bengal gram Mash and strain the remaining pulp again till the
¼ cup kabuli chana / chickpea water runs clear. Put the stock on heat and keep
¼ cup whole urad / black gram boiling till it starts to thicken. While boiling add
½ cup kulath / horse gram the haldi, dhania powder, jeera powder, red chilli
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder powder, garam masala and salt to the ras.
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder When ras is gravy like consistency, take off from
½ tsp red chilli powder heat. Temper by heating the ghee, and adding
½ tsp garam masala whole red chillies, pinch of hing, jeera.
2 tbsp ghee Allow to crackle and pour over ras.
4-5 whole red chillies Serve with lots of ghee and rice.
salt to taste

Bhatt Ki Churdkani
Method
Ingredients Soak bhatt overnight. Heat the oil in a kadai.
1 cup black bhatt / black soy beans Add jeera, chopped onion and the soaked bhatt
1 onion together and fry till the onions start getting brown.
½ tsp jeera / cumin seeds Now add 1-2 tsp of plain flour and fry again for
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder few minutes. Put haldi, dhania, jeera powder and
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder chilli powder. Fry for few more seconds.
½ tsp chilli powder Add 4 cups of water and cook on high flames.
2 tbsp oil Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or till bhatt is
4-5 cups water soft and the curry is thick.
The colour of churdkani should be dark greenish
rice paste or plain flour
black. It is served with hot steamed rice.
salt to taste

151
Thathawani
Ingredients Method
2 cups black bhatt / black soy bean Wash the dals and soak them in water for about
1 cup kala chana / bengal gram two hours. When the seeds have become well
½ cup kulath / horse gram soaked, boil them with water in an iron utensil.
½ cup urad / black gram Cook for about one and a half to two hours. The
½ cup rajma, whole / kidney beans longer the dals are cooked the tastier the broth
8-10 garlic cloves becomes. Alternately the dals can be cooked in a
1 onion pressure cooker for 30 to 45 minutes.
1”piece ginger Drain the dals and keep the liquid broth aside.
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds Grind all the green and dry masala into a uniform
4 kali miri / black peppercorns
paste with a little water. Mix rice powder, salt and
1.27 cm piece dalchini / cinnamon
water to make the rice thickener.
7 lavang / clove
Add the masala paste to the rice thickener. Put
5 elaichi / cardamoms
4-5 red chillies, whole an iron frying pan on a moderate flame. Pour
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder the liquid broth and masala paste with the rice
1 tsp khus-khus / poppy seeds, rice thickener thickener. Cook for about ten minutes to get
1 tbsp rice powder thathawani. Take a wok, pour the ghee and allow it
salt to taste to get hot. Put shah jeera in the hot ghee. Add the
1 cup water seasoning to the thathawani.
2 tbsp ghee Garnish with ghee and coriander leaves if desired.
½ tsp shah jeera
½ cup dhania / coriander leaves

152
Undhyo
Method
Ingredients For the methi moothiyas
1 cup baby potatoes, peeled Combine the fenugreek leaves and a little salt in
1 raw banana cut into 25 mm. (1”) cubes a bowl and mix well. Allow to stand for 5 to 7
3 to 4 baigan / eggplant / aubergines small black variety minutes and squeeze out all the liquid form the
1 1/4 cups surti vaal papdi / fresh lablab, stringed and cut into fenugreek leaves.
halves Add all the remaining ingredients and knead
3/4 cup kand / purple yam, peeled and cut into cubes into a soft dough, adding water only if required.
/4 cup suran / yam, peeled and chopped Divide the dough into 20 equal portions and
1/4 cup fresh tuvar / arhar / pigeon pea / dana shape each portion roughly into a round by
2 tbsp oil rolling it between your palms and fingers.
1/2 tsp ajwain / carom seeds Heat the oil deep fry the moothiyas a few at a
1/4 tsp hing / asafetida time on a medium flame till they turn golden
salt to taste brown in colour.
Coriander-coconut masala Drain on an absorbent paper and keep aside.
1 cup freshly grated coconut Make a criss-cross slit on each baby potato,
1/2 cup dhania / coriander leaves finely chopped banana piece and brinjal taking care not to
1/3 cup green garlic finely chopped separate the segments.
1 tbsp dhaniya - jeera powder / coriander-cumin powder Stuff the vegetables evenly using ½ of the
2 tsp ginger-green chilli paste coriander-coconut masala mixture and keep
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder aside. Combine the fresh surti papdi, kand,
1 tbsp sugar suran, touvar dana and the remaining masala
1 tbsp lemon juice
mixture in a bowl, mix well and keep aside to
salt to taste
marinate for 8 to 10 minutes.
Methi moothiyas Heat the oil in a pressure cooker, add the ajwain
3 cups methi / fenugreek leaves and hing sauté on a medium flame for a few
salt to taste seconds. Add the stuffed baby potatoes and
1/2 cup gehun ka atta / whole wheat flour brinjal, all the marinated vegetables, salt and 2
1/2 cup besan / chickpea flour / gram flour cups of hot water, mix gently and pressure cook
3 tsp ginger-green chilli paste on a high flame for 2 whistles. Allow the steam
2 1/2 tsp sugar to escape before opening the lid.
1/2 tsp haldi / turmeric powder
Transfer the cooked vegetables into a big
1 tsp chilli powder
non-stick pan, add the stuffed bananas and
3 tbsp oil
oil for deep frying methi muthias, toss gently and cook on a slow
flame till the bananas are tender, while stirring
Garnish occasionally. Serve hot garnished with coriander.
3 tbsp dhania / coriander leaves finely chopped

153
Gawar phalli (cluster beans)
Method
Ingredients Thoroughly wash the gawar, and remove the edges
250 grams gawar phalli / cluster beans and strings from it. Cut the beans into 2 inch pieces
1 tbsp oil each. Heat oil in a pan;
1 pinch hing / asafetida Add hing, jeera and fry them till the jeera becomes
1/4 tsp roasted jeera / cumin powder brown in colour. Add haldi powder, dhania powder,
1/4 tsp haldi / turmeric powder green chilli, red chilli and mix well.
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder Add salt and cluster beans stir it for 2-3 minutes.
/4 tsp red chilli powder Add 1 table spoon water, cover and simmer 10
2-3 green chilli, finely chopped minutes. Cook till the beans are tender.
salt to taste Add amchur powder in and simmer for 3-4 minutes
1/4 tsp amchur / dry mango powder on a medium flame.
1 tbsp dhania / coriander leaves finely chopped Garnish with dhania leaves before serving.

French beans - Talasani Method

Ingredients Snap the beans into one inch pieces.
1/4 kg French beans, ends cut and stringed In a kadai add oil and saute the garlic cloves in it
2-3 whole red chillies roughly cut till they start turning brown. Add the chillies and
5-6 whole garlic cloves peels kept, saute for a minute. Add the beans and salt to taste.
crushed slightly Sprinkle a few tbsps of water. Cover with a lid and
2 tsp oil cook for 5-10 minutes or till the beans are cooked.
salt to taste Serve with rice and dal.

154
Peas
Method
Ingredients First soak kaju in warm water for 20 to 30 minutes;
3 medium to large tomatoes, chopped while the kajus are soaking, steam the fresh peas till they
10 to 12 cashews/kaju are cooked.
1 cup matar / peas In a mortar-pestle crush to a paste the ginger and green
½ inch ginger chillies. Drain the cashews and blend them with the
1 to 2 green chilies chopped tomatoes without adding any water, grind to a
2 tbsp fresh curd/dahi / yogurt, beaten fine and smooth paste. Keep aside. Heat oil in a pan.
2 tbsp milk Add the garam masala.
a pinch hing / asafoetida Saute till the spices give off a fragrant aroma.
½ tsp haldi / turmeric powder Add ginger and green chili paste and a generous pinch
½ to ¾ tsp lal mirch powder / red chili powder of hing. Stir and saute till the raw aroma of ginger and
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder green chilies go away. Add the tomato-cashew paste.
1 tsp dhania powder / coriander powder Cover and cook for a few minutes
½ tsp garam masala powder Keep stirring till it thickens and you see oil specks on top
½ tsp kasuri methi / dry fenugreek leaves, and oil releasing from the sides.
crushed Add the haldi, red chili powder, jeera powder, dhania
1 cup water powder and the garam masala powder. Stir and saute for
3 tbsp oil a minute. Lower the flame and add beaten curd. Keep
salt to taste stirring so that the curd does not curdle.
whole garam masala Add 1 cup water. Now add the cooked green peas.
1 bay tej patta / bay leaf season with salt. Add the milk.
2 lavang / cloves Bring the peas masala curry to a simmer on a low to
2 chotti elachi / cardamoms medium flame. Lastly add crushed kasuri methi.
1 inch dalchini / cinnamon Garnish with coriander leaves before serving
1 or 2 single strands of javitri / mace (optional)

155
Peapods sabzi
Method
Ingredients Peel the pea pods and separate the two halves of each pod.
1 cup matar ke chhilke (peel of pea Now fold and press each half of the pea pod in such a way
pods), chopped small that outer fleshy side of the pod remains outside. Remove
1 cup boiled potato, peeled and cubed the inner tough membrane of pod, by sliding it down slowly
in small size along the length of the pod from inside. Separate all the
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds peels and then chop them in small pieces. Keep them aside
A pinch hing / asafetida for later use. Heat the oil in a pan and add hing and jeera
salt to taste seeds. Add chopped peels of pea pods. Let it cook for few
½ tsp red chili powder minutes on a medium flame. Add cubed potatoes to this
1 tsp haldi / turmeric powder and mix. Add haldi, red chili powder, chopped green chilies
½ tsp amchur / dry mango powder and salt. Cook covered on low heat till the vegetable is just
1 green chilli, finely chopped tender. Add in amchoor powder and garam masala powder.
½ tsp garam masala (optional) Remove and serve hot with chapati
1 tbsp cooking oil

Method
Pinto Bean Thanksgiving Recipe Pick the beans for stones and then soak overnight in water.
Place the beans and soaking water in an ovenproof casserole.
Ingredients Add bay leaf and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.
1/2 Kilo red beans or pintos beans Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 1 hour. Check beans
1 bay leaf at regular intervals to make sure they are submerged, and
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil add water as necessary. Meanwhile, heat oven to 300
1 yellow or red onion, chopped degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy skillet
salt to taste and add onion. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5
2 to 4 garlic cloves (to taste), minced minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and the garlic and
¼ cup tomato paste cook, stirring, until garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute.
2 tbsp honey Stir onion and garlic into beans, along with salt to taste,
2 chipotles in adobo, seeded and tomato paste, honey, and chipotles, and stir together. Add
minced (chipotles are dried, sweet potatoes and bring back to a simmer, drizzle with
remaining olive oil, and place in oven. Bake 1 to 1 1/2
smoked jalapeños.
hours, until beans are thoroughly soft and sweet potatoes
Adobo is a tangy,
are beginning to fall apart, checking and stirring from time
slightly sweet red sauce)
to time to make sure that beans are submerged. Either
2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut
add liquid or push them down into the simmering broth if
in large dices.
necessary. Remove from heat and serve hot.

156
Baked Bean
Method
Ingredients Drain and rinse the beans.
250 grams pinto or white beans, soaked overnight in water Lightly grease a heavy bottomed pot, then add
1 can “no salt added” tomato sauce all ingredients. Cover with the lid, and cook on
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce or gluten-free soy sauce high 7 hours or until beans are soft.
1 3/4 cup water or vegetable broth Turning off the heat, but keeping the lid closed,
2 tbsp apple cider Vinegar let sit 1 hour.
2 tsp minced garlic Serve immediately, or transfer to a container and
1 tbsp molasses (blackstrap or regular) refrigerate for up to 4 days.
1/8 tsp pure stevia extract, or 4 tbsp brown If reheating, add a little water (up to 1/2 cup for
sugar or coconut sugar the entire recipe) and stir, then heat. Yields about
1/2 tsp salt 3 1/2 cups.
1 tbsp jeera / cumin powder
1 1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Vegetarian Soup)

Method
Ingredients Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then fry
1 tbsp olive oil the onion and celery gently for 10 mins
1 medium onion, chopped until softened, stirring frequently. Tip in
2 celery sticks, chopped the cumin and fry for another min.
2 tsp ground jeera / cumin Turn up the heat, then add the stock,
600ml hot vegetable stock tomatoes and chickpeas, plus a good
400g can chopped plum tomatoes with garlic grind of black pepper. Simmer for 8 mins.
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained Throw in broad beans and lemon juice,
100g frozen broad beans cook for a further 2 mins. Season to
zest and juice ½ lemon taste, then top with a sprinkling of lemon
large handful coriander or parsley zest and chopped herbs. Serve with
flatbread, to serve flatbread

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Mexican Red Bean
Method
Ingredients Sort beans and wash under running water.
1/2 kilo dried red beans or Pinto beans Place beans in a large pan and bring to a boil.
2 cups water Boil for 10 minutes, drain.
2 cups hot water Place the precooked beans in a crock pot adding
1 large onion, coarsely chopped water and remaining ingredients.
1 can diced tomatoes Cover and cook on high for 1 to 2 hours; turn down
2 garlic cloves, minced to low and continue to cook for 8 hours.
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes During cooking add additional hot water if needed.
2 teaspoons salt

Stinky Bean / Axoni Recipe

Method
Ingredients Soak the dried stinky beans in boiling hot water
1 tomato diced and leave it for 10 minutes.
3 garlic cloves diced Heat oil in a pan and add the diced tomatoes
100 grams dried stinky beans Add salt and stir till the tomatoes are cooked.
1 tbsp any cooking oil Add garlic and the soaked stinky beans.
a pinch of paprika Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add freshly ground paprika before serving
salt to taste

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Bean & Pulses Salad
Ingredients
Method
1/4 cup boiled rajma / kidney beans
1/2 cup boiled kabuli chana / white chickpeas Combine all the ingredients except the
1/2 cup boiled vaal / field beans/ butter beans dressing in a salad bowl.
2 spring Onions, finely chopped Toss well.
1 tomato, cubed Chill for at least 2 to 3 hours.
1/4 cup cooking cheese cubes or cheese, Just before serving, add the dressing in
cut into 1/2” cubes the salad.
1 cup iceberg lettuce, torn into pieces Serve immediately.

For the dressing

1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Hummus
Ingredients
Please note 1 cup = 250 ml
1½ cup chickpeas, soaked in water for 8-9 hours Method
and then cooked till soft Roast the sesame seeds and then powder
½ cup olive oil. Add more if required these finely.
2-3 garlic cloves In a blender grind the cooked chickpeas,
1 tbsp lemon juice with all the spices, parsley, salt and
½ tsp red chili powder or cayenne pepper garlic.
½ tsp black pepper powder Add the powdered sesame seeds, lemon
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder juice and olive oil.
½ cup white til / sesame roasted and powdered Blend to a smooth paste.
or ½ cup tahini Serve the hummus with warm pita bread
a few sprigs Parsley or coriander / cilantro garnished with a few sprigs of parsley.
salt as required

159
Tuscan Bean Soup
Method
Ingredients Drain beans and transfer to a large saucepan along
2 cups dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight with half the carrots, the celery, the onions, and
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped 5 cups water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped low; simmer, covered, until beans are tender, 40–45
1⁄2 yellow onion, roughly chopped minutes. Set 3⁄4 cup beans aside.
3⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Transfer the remaining beans and their cooking liquid
4 cloves garlic (3 minced, 1 halved) to a blender and purée. Set puréed beans aside.
250 grams squash, such as lal bhopla / butternut, Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a large pot over medium heat.
peeled and cut into 1⁄2” cubes Add minced garlic and cook, stirring often, until soft,
(about 2 cups) about 3 minutes. Add reserved bean purée, along
4 large kale leaves, preferably with the remaining carrots, the squash, kale, potato,
lacinato or cavalo nero, and 1 cup water. Season with salt and pepper, bring
stemmed and chopped to a boil, and reduce heat to medium-low.
1 medium waxy-style potato, peeled and cut into Cook, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about
1⁄2” cubes 20 minutes. Stir in the crushed fennel seeds and
salt and freshly ground black pepper, reserved whole beans. Meanwhile, toast the bread
to taste and rub it with the cut end of the halved garlic
1⁄2 tsp. crushed fennel seeds clove. Drizzle each toast with 1 tbsp. oil.
8 thick slices country-style bread To serve, place 1 to 2 pieces toasted bread in the
bottom of soup bowls and ladle soup over the top.
Drizzle soup with remaining oil

160
Pulses in Organic Farming and Food Systems
Pulses improve soil health through biological nitrogen fixation as they improve
human health through providing much needed protein. Mixed farming based on
integrating pulses into the cropping system is thus an ecological and sustainable
alternative to chemical fertilizers, which pollute soil, water and air.

Mixed and intercropping

Mixed cropping refers to growing two or more crops simultaneously with either
distinct row arrangements or no row arrangements on the same piece of land.
The different crops/species are either mixed in an organized manner, or sown
with a fixed pattern or spacing and plant populations, or, in an unorganized
manner, where species are unevenly distributed. Mixed cropping varies
considerably from one area to another and even differs among farmers within
a single location. The common feature is that each system tends to reflect the
farmer’s needs, resources, economic considerations and convenience, marketing
feasibility and labour availability (Aiyer 1949). Traditional crop mixtures
consisted of a cereal crop, a pulse crop and an oilseed crop in different
proportions and the mixture was generally broadcast. More than 50% area of
the rainfed crops in Asia, Africa and Latin America are grown under mixed/
intercropping systems. In India, the most common mixtures are wheat +
chickpea, barley + chickpea, linseed + chickpea and pigeon pea + chickpea
and pigeon pea + sorghum.

Scientifically, intercropping is defined as growing two or more dissimilar crops

simultaneously on the same piece of land, base crop necessarily in distinct row
arrangement. The recommended optimum plant population of the base crop is
suitably combined with appropriate additional plant density of the component

161
 crop. In fact, intercropping is the space and time dependent form of multiple
cropping. In terms of land use, growing of crops by intercropping is regarded
as more productive than growing them separately particularly under rainfed
conditions. However, the major limitation of pulse based intercropping occurs
where the component crops have different requirements.

Table 1: Important pulse-based cropping systems in different agro climatic zones of India

Zone States represented Annual rainfall Cropping systems

range (mm)
Western Jammu and Kashmir, 1650-2000 Rice-chickpea/ fieldpea; Maize-chickpea/fieldpea;Ragi-
Himalayan Himachal Pradesh, chickpea/ lentil/ fieldpea; Maize/urad bean/ mung bean
Region Uttar Pradesh – wheat; Pigeon pea, wheat, mung bean/urad bean –
mustard, common bean-potato
Eastern Assam, West Bengal, 1940-3530 Summer rice-Urad bean/mung bean, Maize-pigeonpea/
Himalayan Manipur, Meghalaya, horse gram, Maize-chickpea/lentil/fieldpea, Jute-Urad bean-
Region Nagaland, Arunachal chickpea/lentil
Pradesh
Lower Gangetic West Bengal 1300-1600 Maize-chickpea/lentil/field pea, Rice-chickpea/lentil/field
Plains Region pea, Rice-chickpea + mustard/lentil
Middle Gangetic Uttar Pradesh, Bihar 1200-1470 Maize-wheat-summer mung bean/ urad bean, Rice-potato-
Plains Region summer mung bean/ urad bean, rice-chickpea+mustard,
sugarcane+mung bean/urad bean-chickpea, Pigeonpea – wheat
Upper Gangetic Uttar Pradesh 720 – 980 Rice-wheat/potato-summer mung bean,
Plains Region Maize-wheat/potato-summer mung bean,
Mung bean/Urad bean-wheat,
Sorghum (fodder)-chickpea,
Pearl millet (grain/fodder) – chickpea
Rice-chickpea/lentil
Trans Gangetic Punjab, Haryana 360-890 Maize-potato-summer mung bean/urad bean, Rice/Maize-
Plains Region wheat-summer mung bean/urad bean, Maize-early potato-
late potato-summer mung bean/urad bean, Rice-chickpea/
lentil, Sorghum (fodder)-chickpea/lentil/field pea, Cotton-
chickpea, Pigeon pea- wheat/barley/lentil, Rice-toria-
summer mung bean/Urad bean, Maize-toria-summer mung
bean/urad bean

162
Eastern Plateau Madhya Pradesh, 1270 – 1430 Early rice-urad bean, Rice-rice-cowpea,
and Hills Region Maharashtra, Orissa, Jute –maize-cowpea, Jute-urad bean
West Bengal
Central Plateau Madhya Pradesh, 490 – 1570 Sorghum (grain/fodder) – Chickpea, Fallow-chickpea,
and Hills Region Rajasthan, Uttar Sorghum + pigeon pea – fallow, Pearl Millet + pigeon
Pradesh pea – fallow, Rice/maize – chickpea/lentil/field pea, Moth
bean/mung bean/urad bean-wheat, Pearl millet-chickpea,
Pearl Millet + moth bean-chickpea/lentil, Soybean +
pigeon pea-fallow/chickpea, Urad bean-mustard/linseed
Western Plateau Maharashtra, 600 – 1040 Urad bean-rabi sorghum, Sorghum-potato-mung bean,
and Hills Region Madhya Pradesh, Cotton + urad bean/mung bean-fallow, Sorghum-wheat-
Rajasthan cow pea/mung bean, Cotton/sorghum-chickpea, Soybean-
chickpea, Soybean + pigeon pea-fallow, Mung bean/Urad
bean-safflower
Southern Plateau Andhra Pradesh, 680 – 1000 Maize-sorghum + pigeon pea, Sorghum-chickpea, Pearl
and Hills Region Tamil Nadu, Millet-horse gram, Mung bean/urad bean-safflower, Rice-
Karnataka mung bean/urad bean/cow pea, Mung bean-sorghum/
safflower, Mung bean-pigeon pea, Rice + rice – mung
bean/urad bean/cow pea
East Coast Plains Orissa, Andhra 780 – 1290 Rice-mung bean/urad bean, Sorghum-mung bean/urad
and Hills Region Pradesh, Tamil bean, Tapoica + mung bean/urad bean
Nadu, Pondicherry Rice-rice-mung bean/urad bean, Rice-maize/cow pea
Maize-horse gram/pigeon pea/chickpea
West Cost Plains Tamil Nadu, 2230 – 3640 Rice-urad bean/cow pea/chickpea,
and Hills Region Karnataka, Kerala, Sugarcane + urad bean
Goa, Maharashtra
Gujarat Plains Gujarat 340 – 1790 Urad bean-safflower/niger, Cowpea-safflower, Mung
and Hills Region bean-tobacco, Pearl millet/sorghum+pigeon pea-chickpea
Western Dry Rajasthan 400 Rice/cotton-chickpea, Pearl millet/sorghum-chickpea
Region + mustard
Island Region Andaman 1500-3090 Rice-maize/rice-urad bean
and Nicobar,
Lakshadweep Islands

163
The use of mixtures reduces the feasibility of mechanization, pesticide application
and harvesting. Nevertheless, mixed intercropping should often be regarded as
a highly adapted practice rather than an out-of-date one. In semi arid regions,
wheat and chickpea in mixtures ensure reasonable harvests with more cereals,
if rains are above average, and more pulses, if little rain falls. Roots of pulses
penetrate deeper than those of cereals; in combination, they can exploit the soil
more effectively for water and nutrients. Wheat – chickpea, sorghum – pigeon
pea are just some of the best-known crop mixtures.

Green manure species have special use. Small seeded legume species or pulse
cultivars are preferable, as their seed harvests compete less with food grains.

Cost benefit analysis based on survey

164
Contrary to the myth of industrial agriculture, organic and biodiverse systems of
agriculture produce more food and higher incomes than industrial monocultures.
We conducted a survey to collect data on different practices involved in
agriculture. The results showed that the farmers doing mixed cropping were
getting more benefit as compared to mono cropping. Here is the graphical
representation of the income earned by the farmers from mono cropping and
mixed cropping respectively.

Comparative productivity status of the farming systems surveyed

165
The graph reveals that productivity under monocropping in terms of financial
return is less than 50% as compared to mixed farming systems. Also, a wide
range of crops under mixed farming are seen to have a wider insurance against
crop failure than in the case of monocrops.

The mixed farming systems are practiced and understood by the farmers as a
multidimensional concept that covers both natural resources (soil, water and
soil microorganisms) as well as livelihood aspects of the farming communities.
Sustainability under a mixed farming system is best defined as the wealth
of economies that include the component of soil fertility, soil and water
conservation and high microbial population that can be considered as the
ecological capital for agriculture.

166
Integrating pulses into farming systems produces high value food and
clean water and clean air

As pulses disappear from the fields, nitrogen fixation will disappear forcing the
usage of nitrogen fertilizers, which is known for its extremely negative impact,
since it leaches into water systems. Nitrate in water supplies has become one
of the major environmental issues because of its implications on human health.
Nitrate accumulation in water systems originating from fertilizers has been
reported from many parts of the world.

In India as well as in other developing countries, conventional agriculture

is characterized by the use of high doses of chemical fertilizers, pesticides,
herbicides, etc. With the advent of high yielding varieties and fertilizer-centred
technologies, the Indian Government offered these inputs at a subsidized rate.
This has led to increased consumption of fertilizers and consequently resulted
in fertilizer related environmental hazard like nitrate pollution of ground water,
increased emission of gaseous nitrogen and metal toxicity (Katyal, 1989).
In the recent years the pollution of the environment with man-made organic
compounds has become a major problem. Many of these compounds introduced
into nature are termed as xenobiotics (xenos meaning foreign in Greek), and the
indigenous micro flora and fauna do not easily degrade a large number of them.

As pulses have been displaced from farming systems, consumption of chemical

fertilizers has increased tremendously in recent years. Nitrogen, phosphorous
and potassium are the primary fertilizer nutrients, which are widely used in our
country. In the past 50 years, the use of N-fertilizers has increased tremendously
from 58,700 tonnes in 1951-52 to 11, 592,700 tonnes in 1999-2000. Even
in the two decades between 1980-2000, the consumption of Nitrogen has
increased three folds (Sharma and Bhatnager, 2002). Nitrate is currently
recognized as the most serious agricultural chemical pollutant (Alfoldi, 1983).

167
Punjab and Haryana are the states consuming more than 100 kg/ha of N
fertilizers which is the major reason for highest nitrate pollution of well waters
(Agrawal et al., 1999) of the two states. However nitrate pollution level above
the WHO permissible limits was also reported from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and
Ganjam districts of Orissa (Handa, 1986). According to Durgaprasad (2000),
there are 773 nitrate-affected villages in Gujarat. The earlier studies showed an
increase in shallow well waters from 0.04-6.15 in 1975 to 0.31 mg NO3-N/L
in 1988 (Singh et al., 1995). A survey in Delhi reported a range of 26-150
mg NO3-N/L in shallow well water, which is very high constituting a warning
(CGWA, 1998).

Nitrogen is applied to the soil as urea (which is readily hydrolyzed to

ammonium), ammonium nitrate or a combination of ammonium and nitrate.
About 40-60 percent of applied nitrogen is lost by volatisation, run off, de-
nitrification and leaching. The nitrate that is leached causes a lot of visible and
invisible hazardous effects. Tripathi (1990) reported that effluents discharged
from a chemical fertilizer factory in India affected the physiochemical properties
of soil, its mineral composition and germination of wheat. In their study, the
concentration of Na was 40 times higher in the effluent than in the nearby
well water.

Many studies reported the heavy pollution of groundwater with nitrate in

rural areas, especially those producing vegetables, fruits, tea and livestock. It
is clear that the heavy application of fertilizers is the cause of nitrate pollution
of underground water. According to Singh and Sekhon (1979), nitrate is highly
stable and can percolate slowly towards deep aquifers for years. Even if all
fertilizer applications were suspended immediately in areas where deep aquifers
are beginning to show nitrate pollution, the inputs of past years would still
slowly percolate toward the aquifers, and nitrate input to the ground water
would continue for many years.

168
High nitrate concentration in drinking water has drawn a lot of attention due to
its harmful biological effects on health. It has been reported that indigestion of
water containing higher nitrate concentrations causes methamoglobinemia (i.e.
infant cyanosis or blue-baby syndrome) ((Sharma and Bhatnager, 2002). It also
affects the blood in such a way as to reduce its oxygen carrying capacity (OECD,
1988). The functioning of the central nervous system and cardiovascular system
may also be affected adversely by nitrate rich water (Agrawal et al., 1999).
The World Health Organization has recommended the permissible limit of 10
mg/l nitrate nitrogen (No3-N) or equivalent to 45 mg/L of NO3, which is also
accepted by Indian Council of Medical Research.

A wide range of contaminants can reach the river and marine water either via
groundwater or through drainage ditches. A part of the water received through
precipitation becomes surface runoff and is lost from the land through rivers
and streams. Surface water receives agricultural chemicals by runoff from field
applications and from the dumping of excess chemical fertilizers (Afford and
Ferguson, 1982). There are numerous hydro geological settings where there is
a significant hydraulic connection between a stream or river and an underlying
aquifer. Thus, nitrates, which were initially lost through leaching to ground water
can contribute to the nitrate pollution of surface water such as streams, rivers,
lakes and sea.

Nitrates, which are highly soluble and easily transported in runoff, also
contribute to eutrophication (Oglesby, 1971). Since, 1970 the increasing
levels of nitrates entering the rivers in our country were largely responsible
for eutrophication occurring in running waters. Normally, blue green algae
are very important in the river ecosystem, photosynthesizing sunlight energy
and liberating oxygen into the water. The changes in water quality caused by
eutrophication can be a major cause of stress to fishes due to the high pH
release of highly toxic gaseous ammonia and depletion of oxygen.

169
Farmers generally apply too much fertilizer to their crops and this excess,
particularly the nitrates, can be easily leached into lakes, streams and ground
water. Nitrate is the main form of N in ground waters, river system and marine
water. Several authors (Hill, 1982; Pacheco and Cabrera, 1997; Steinich et al.,
1998; Daskalaki et al., 1998; Antonakos and Lambrakis, 2000) have related
ground water nitrates to different sources. The main sources are chemical
fertilizers applied to the agricultural fields. The problem of nitrate pollution in
groundwater has become severe in India.
Source: J Hazard Mater. 2009 Nov 15;171(1-3):189-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.05.111.
Epub 2009 Jun 6.

A study on nitrate contamination in the groundwater of some rural areas of

Rajasthan, India, showed that a total of 64 groundwater samples from 21
different villages/sub-villages of district Sri Ganganagar, India were collected
and analyzed for nitrate (as NO(3)(-)), sulphate (as SO(4)(2-)) and few other
parameters. NO(3)(-) level in groundwater was 7.10-82.0 mg l(-1) for individual
samples. But average NO(3)(-) for total samples was 60.6+/-33.6 (SD) mg l
(-1), which indicates the non-suitability of groundwater for drinking purposes,
if BIS permissible limit (22.6 mg l(-1)) is considered as reference level. SO(4)(2-)
ranged form 28.6 to 660.3 mg l(-1) in this area.
Source; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19545944

170
Table 2: List of districts showing localized occurrence of nitrate ( >45 mg/litre) in ground
water in different states of India

S.N. State Parts of Districts having Nitrate > 45 mg/litre

1 Andhra Pradesh Adilabad, Anantpur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, East Godavari, Guntur, Hyderabad, Karimnagar,
Khammam, Krishna, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nellore, Nizamabad,
Prakasam, Ranga Reddy, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Warangal, West
Godavari
2 Bihar Aurangabad, Banka, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Kaimur(Bhabua), Patna, Rohtas, Saran, Siwan
3 Chattisgarh Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Korba, Mahasamund,
Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon
4 Delhi Central Delhi, New Delhi, North Delhi, North West Delhi, South Delhi, South West
Delhi, West Delhi
5 Goa North Goa
6 Gujarat Ahmadabad, Amreli, Anand, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Dohad, Jamnagar,
Junagadh, Kachchh, Kheda, Mehsana, Narmada, Navsari, Panchmahals, Patan,
Porbandar, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Surat, Surendranagar,Vadodara,
7 Haryana Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Hissar, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal,
Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat, Yamuna
Nagar
8 Himachal Una
Pradesh
9 Jammu & Jammu, Kathua
Kashmir
10 Jharkhand Chatra, Garhwa, Godda, Gumla, Lohardaga, Pakaur, Palamu, Paschimi Singhbhum, Purbi
Singhbhum, Ranchi, Sahibganj
11 Karnataka Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga,
Davangere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulburga, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya,
Mysore, Raichur. Shimoga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada
12
Kerala Alappuzha, Idukki, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad,
Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad

171
 13 Maharashtra Ahmednagar, Akola, Amravati, Auragabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldana, Chandrapur,
Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kohlapur, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded,
Nandurbar, Nashik, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Wardha,
Washim, Yavatma
14 Madhya Anuppur, Ashok Nagar, Balaghat, Barwani, Betul, Bhind, Bhopal, Burhanpur, Chhatarpur,
Pradesh Chhindwara, Damoh, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Gwalior, Harda, Hoshangabad, Indore,
Jabalpur, Jhabua,
Katni, Khandwa, Khargaon, Mandla, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsimhapur, Neemuch, Panna,
Raisen, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Sehore, Seoni, Shahdol, Shajapur, Sheopur,
Shivpuri, Sidhi, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, Umaria, Vidisha
15 Orissa Angul, Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Bolangir, Baudh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Dhenkanal,
Gajapati, Ganjam, J.Singhpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Kendrapara, Keonjhar,
Khurda, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nawapada, Nayagarh, Phulbani, Puri,
Sambalpur, Sundergarh, Sonapur
16 Punjab Amritsar, Bhathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Firozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur,
Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Nawan Shahr, Patiala,
Rupnagar, Sangrur
17 Rajasthan Ajmer, Alwar, Banaswara, Baran, Barmer, Bundi, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bikaner,
Chittaurgarh, Churu, Dausa, Dhaulpur, Dungarpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jaipur,
Jaisalmer, Jalor, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunun, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur, Pali, Partapgarh,
Rajsamand, Sirohi, Sikar, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk, Udaipur
18 Tamil Nadu Chennai, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Kancheepuram,
Kanyakumari, Karur, Madurai, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Perambalur, Pudukkottai,
Ramanathapuram, Salem, Sivaganga, Theni, Thiruvannamalai, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli,
Thiruvallur, Trichi, Tuticorin, Vellore, Villupuram, Virudhunagar
19 Uttar Pradesh Agra, Aligarh, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Auraiya, Badaun, Baghpat, Balrampur, Banda,
Barabanki, Bareilly, Basti, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Chitrakoot, Etah, Etawa, Fatehpur, Firozabad,
GB Nagar, Ghaziabad, Ghazipur, Hamirpur, Hardoi, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Kannauj, Kanpur Dehat,
Lakhimpur, Mahoba, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Raebareli, Rampur,
Sant Ravidas Nagar, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur, Sonbhadra, Sultanpur, Unnao
20 Uttrakhand Dehradun, Hardwar, Udhamsinghnagar
21 West Bengal Bankura, Bardhaman

Source: Jain, S. K. and Sharma, V. Contamination of Ground Water, CGWB, ministry of water resources. 2008,
Government of India, Faridabad.

172
Chemical fertilizers add nitrate directly to the groundwater. Since the plants
cannot often utilize all the nitrogen applied to the fields, some of them
are left in the soil and it can leach into groundwater (Stone et al,. 1998).
Since nitrate is highly water-soluble and is not held by soil particles, or not
chemically fixed in the soil, it easily moves with water through the soil, porous
rock and sand layers to underground water supplies. The more the amount
of nitrogen fertilizers applied,the higher the amount of nitrate leach to the
groundwater. Nitrogen fertilizers have been applied in very high amounts to
field crops since the 1950’s in many countries to enhance their growth and
productivity. According to reports (Shirmohammadi et al., 1998, Lawrence et
al., 1988, Glanville et al., 1998), amounts went dramatically up, particularly
with the introduction of new high yielding crop varieties. Nitrate is therefore a
widespread contaminant of ground and surface water worldwide.

A number of studies have shown correlations between nitrogen fertilizer use

and polluted groundwater (Singh and Sekhon, 1978/1979; Zaporozec, 1983;
McWilliams, 1984). When the amount of nitrogen in fertilizer applied exceeds
the uptake by plants, the excess may leach into groundwater through soil.
This leaching takes place usually as water-soluble nitrate and contaminates the
shallow wells that are the main drinking water source in dense agricultural
areas. This problem becomes severe in rural areas where the people residing are
entirely dependent on the drinking water from shallow dug wells.

Nitrogen applied through fertilizers is converted to plant available nitrogen by

bacteria living in the soil. Nitrate-nitrogen not taken up by crops or immobilized
by bacteria into soil organic matter can leach out of the root zone and end up
in ground water and also get converted to atmospheric gases by denitrification
which contribute to climate change.

173
 In view of all these findings, integrating nitrogen fixing pulses into agriculture
does not merely provide nutrition, it also avoids water pollution and contributes
to clean drinking water. Pulses also contribute to clean air. Nitrogen fertilizers are
a major source of nitrogen oxide, which is two hundred times more potent, as a
greenhouse gas, than carbon dioxide. Pulses intercropped in farming help reduce
the impact of climate change by reducing nitrogen dioxide emissions. They are a
food of the future.
Source: Hemant W. Khandare /Int.J.ChemTech Res.2013,5(4) http://www.sphinxsai.com/2013/VOL5_
NO.4_APRIL/PDFS_VOL5_NO.4/CT=72(1921-1926)AJ13.pdf

Table 3: Estimates of the proportion of plant N derived from N2 fixation and total
nitrogen fixed by different pulse crops
Crop N fix (%) N – Fixed (kg ha –1) References
Chickpea 0-86 0-141 Peoples et al. (1995); Heritage et al. (1995-1998); Aslam et
al. (1997); unkovich et al. (1997); Schwenke et al. (1998);
Marcellos et al. (1998)
Common Bean 0-73 0-165 Jensen and Casetellanos (1994); Peoples et al. (1995);
Castellanos et al. (1996)
Cowpea 32-89 9-201 George et al. (1995), Peoples et al. (1995)
Faba Bean 19-92 15-330 Peoples et al.(1995); Unkovich et al.(1997); Shwenke et al
(1998)
Field pea 20-95 16-245 Evans et al.(1989); Jensen and Castellanos (1994); Peoples
et al. (1995)
Lentil 39-100 10-192 Peoples et al.(1995); Shah et al. (1997)
Lupin 29-97 26-288 Evans et al.(1989); Unkovich et al.(1997)
Mung bean 15-77 9-137 Chapman and Myers (1987); George et al. (1995); Peoples
et al. (1995)
Pigeon pea 10-81 7-235 Peoples et al.(1995); Ladha et al.(1996)
Urad Bean 37-98 21-140 Peoples et al.(1995)
Source: Pulses, ed. by Guriqbal Singh, Harbajan Singh Sekhon, Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Agrotech Publishing Academy,
Udaipur, 2005.

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Pulse crops fix atmospheric nitrogen in their root nodules in association with
rhizobium/ biadyrrhizobium species. Mixtures in fact can increase the fixation of
nitrogen.

Table 4: Nitrogen balance in soil after the harvest of pulses

Crop N Balance (kg ha –1)

Chickpea -47 to +46
-67 to +61
-63 to –77
-41 to +56
Cowpea -5 to +26
Faba Bean -12 to +94
Field Pea -32 to +96
-32 to +96
Lupin -41 to +135
-41 to +141
Mung Bean -19 to +10
Pigeon Pea -20 to –49
+70

Source: Pulses ed. by Guriqbal Singh, Harbajan Singh Sekhon, Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Agrotech
Publishing Academy, Udaipur, 2005.

Besides providing nitrogen to the soil, pulses also provide potassium and
phosphorus. The availability of phosphorus and potassium is higher in soils after
pulse based cropping systems than after non-pulse based cropping systems (G.P.
Srivastava and V.C. Srivastava, Nitrogen Economy and Productivity of Wheat
(Triticum artivium) Succeeding Grain Legumes, in Indian Journal of Agricultural
Sciences, 63,p694-698, 1993).

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Pulses also add significant amounts of organic residue to the soil in the form
of root bioneers and leaf litter. Microbial activity in the soil also increases
by intercropping pulses. Pulses thus contribute to productivity of other crops.
Chemical fertilizers and herbicides have an adverse effect on nodulation and
nitrogen fixation of pulses.

Monocultures of the Green Revolution, focusing excessively on rice and wheat,

have driven pulses out of our farms, and also out of the diet of the poor. Per
capita availability of pulses has declined from 69 gram in 1961 to 36 gram in
2000 leading to severe protein calorie malnutrition. A minimum of 50 gram of
pulses per capita per day is necessary for a healthy diet.

Table 5: Contribution of Pulses in supply of food nutrients in India, Asia

and World (FAO 2001)

Nutrition supply through pulses World Asia India

Pulse capita –1 year –1 (Kg) 5.90 5.60 12.80
Calorie capita –1 day –1 (number) 55.90 52.50 122.20
Protein capita –1 day –1 (gram) 3.50 3.20 7.20
Fat capita –1 day –1 (gram) 0.40 0.40 1.10

Source: Pulses ed. by Guriqbal Singh, Harbajan Singh Sekhon, Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Agrotech
Publishing Academy, Udaipur, 2005.

Since pulses have been so significant to India’s agriculture, diet and cuisine,
India is the most significant producer of pulses with 25% of the global
production. Pulse production is now concentrated only in states where Green
Revolution agriculture did not destroy the mixed farming based on intercropping
of pulses to create monocultures of rice and wheat. These include Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
the Himalayan States. While India’s production is declining, U.S., Canada and

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Australia are expanding their pulse production to export to India, especially
under the free trade regime of WTO. During 1999-2000, India imported
3,50,000 tonnes of pulses.

A more sustainable alternative is to move from chemical intensive monocultures

of cereals to diversified mixed farming systems integrating pulses and oilseeds.
These systems also produce more food and higher incomes for farmers.

In Navdanya’s organic farm, we grow 12 crops, 9 crops, 7 crops, and 5 crops

in mixtures. Biodiverse systems produce more food and higher incomes than
monocultures (see table 6). Monocultures produce more control not more food.
They facilitate corporate control over agriculture by making farmers dependent
on monopoly markets and high cost and extended inputs. They create profits
for corporations, which sell costly inputs and buy cheap commodities through
contract farming. For farmers they translate into a negative economy of high
costs and low returns, which leads to debt, suicides and landlessness.

The average production and total amount of Baranaja (12 crops), Navdanya (9
crops), Saptrishi (7 crops) and Punchranga (5 crops) v/s Monocropping growing
at Navdanya Farm is shown on Table 6.

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 Table 6: Year: 2004-2005

S.N. Name of the Crops Average production / Average Rate/ Kg Total Amount Rs.
ha. (Kg.)
NAVDANYA
1 Till / Sesame 400.00 30.00 12000.00
2 Safed chemi 720.00 25.00 18000.00
3 Mandua / Finger Millet 1120.00 10.00 11200.00
4 Dholiyia dal 640.00 20.00 12800.00
5 Safed Bhatt / White Soya 760.00 15.00 11400.00
6 Lobia / Blackeyed Pea 800.00 20.00 16000.00
7 Jhongora / Barnyard Millet 520.00 15.00 7800.00
8 Maize 560.00 8.00 4480.00
9 Gahet / Horsegram 480.00 25.00 12000.00
6000.00 1,05680.00
MONOCULTURE
1 Mandua / Finger Millet 3600.00 10.00 36000.00
saptrishi
1 Urd 600.00 20.00 12000.00
2 Moong 520.00 25.00 13000.00
3 Mandua / Finger Millet 560.00 10.00 5600.00
4 Safed Bhatt / White Soya 680.00 15.00 10200.00
5 Dohyalya Dal 560.00 20.00 11200.00
6 Maize 680.00 8.00 5440.00
7 Lobia Dal / Blackeyed Pea 600.00 20.00 12000.00
Total 4200.00 69440.00
MONOCULTURE
1 Urd 2400.00 20.00 48000.00

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 BARANAJA
Bajra / Pearl Millet 440.00 8.00 3520.00
Maize 1280.00 8.00 10240.00
Safed Chemi 600.00 25.00 15000.00
Aongal 360.00 20.00 7200.00
Mandua / Finger Millet 600.00 10.00 6000.00
Jhangora / Barnyard 440.00 15.00 6600.00
Millet
Urd 600.00 20.00 12000.00
Navrangi / Rice Bean 680.00 20.00 13600.00
Koni No.1 280.00 10.00 2800.00
Lobia / Blackeyed Bean 600.00 20.00 12000.00
Till / Sesame 400.00 30.00 12000.00
Koni No.2 340.00 10.00 3400.00
6620 1,04360
MONOCULTURE
Maize 5400 8.00 43,200

Source: Navdanya field work

Processing of pulses

Generally, in India pulses are consumed after being converted into dal – the
dehusked split pulse. Removal of the seed coat improves appearance, taste and
palatability. It also improves cooking quality and digestibility. Conversion of
pulses to dal is the third largest food processing industry in the country after
rice and wheat milling industries. It is estimated that about 75% of the pulses
produced in the country are very ancient crops. About 30% of the production
of pulses is retained by the farmers and is processed in the rural sector using
traditional techniques.

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There were about 7000 dal mills working in various parts of the country
processing different pulses throughout the year. However, with the advent of
organized large scale milling systems, most of these small-scale processors have
been thrown out of their profession and livelihood. The global agribusinesses
are now taking over food processing by making the fresh, locally produced food
appear backward and promote stale food wrapped in plastic appear “modern
and healthy”. Industrial processing and packaging is destroying the livelihood of
small farmers to earn large-scale profits.

Dehulling method

Dehulling of pulses is an age-old practice in India. In earlier days, hand

pounding was common, which was later replaced by stone chakkis. Several
traditional methods are used (Kurien and Parpia 1968), that can be broadly
classified into two categories; (i) the wet method that involves water soaking,
sun drying, and dehulling, and (ii) the dry method that involves oil/water
application, sun drying, and dehulling.

Traditional pulse processing technologies

The dehusking technology of pulses involves two basic steps, viz. loosening of
the husk (either by wet or dry method), followed by its removal, and splitting
into cotyledons by suitable machinery.

For small scale dehulling, the basic unit is a chakki comprising two grinding
stones. The treatments given before dehulling in a chakki vary from region to
region (Singh and Jambunathan 1981). For example, in the Indian states of
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, soaking pigeon pea in water
for 2-14 hr is a common practice. In some other states, villagers prefer to treat
the material with oil before dehulling. In some households, pigeon pea is first
split using a chakki, then treated with oil/water, and finally hand pounded to

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remove the seed coat. Another procedure, followed in Uttar Pradesh is heating
the pigeon pea on an iron pan, with or without sand, before grinding.

Domestic processing of pulses

The domestic process involves conditioning and milling. Mixing water or oil
followed by drying does the conditioning. The purpose is to loosen the husk
for easy separation during milling. The milling involves dehusking, splitting and
polishing. Complete splitting is achieved in 2- 3 passes. The left out dehusked
and unsplit grains are reconditioned and reefed to the milling machines. The
husk is separated and dal is polished either by addition of water or oil.

Nutritional importance of pulses

Pulses are excellent sources of protein (20-40%), carbohydrates (50-60%),

which include fibre, starch, sugars and unavailable carbohydrates, fat (2-3%),
minerals (2-4%), i.e. calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium and phosphorus
and B-Vitamins like thiamine and niacin. Table 9 shows the nutritional value of
different pulses and legumes.

Pulses supply 340 Kcal g dry seed, which is almost similar to calorie value of
cereals. Pulses give nearly double the amount of protein as compared to cereals.
The nutritive value of dietary proteins is governed by protein profile, i.e. the
pattern and the quantity of essential amino acids present in it. The globulins and
albumins are the predominant proteins in pulses.

Pulses contain 55 to 60% starch, soluble sugars and fibre and besides the
unavailable carbohydrates. The whole grains of pulses are especially rich in
fibre as compared to dehusked split dal. Pulses also contain high amount of
polyunsaturated fatty acids, thus along with cereals, they meet the requirements
of essential amino acids for an adult.

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The legumes are also rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron,
potassium and phosphorus.

Pulses have a high protein content, the value is about twice that in cereal and
several times that in root tuber (FAO, 1968), so they can help to improve the
protein intake of meals in which cereals and root tubers in combination with
pulses are eaten (Kushwah et al., 2002). Pulse when eaten with cereals, can
also help to increase the protein quality of the meal. In man, protein helps in
the repair of body tissue, synthesis of enzymes and hormones and also in the
supply of energy. In children, the consumption of pulses should be encouraged,
particularly where animal protein is scarce and expensive, as this would help to
furnish the child with the necessary amino acids required for growth. (Journal of
Applied Sciences and Environmental Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp 99-104)

Vitamins present in appreciable quantities in pulses are thiamin, riboflavin,

pyridoxine and folic acid; vitamin E and K are also found in pulses. The
B-vitamins act as co-enzymes in biological processes. Vitamin E is known to play
a role as an antioxidant inhibiting the oxidation of vitamin A in the GIT and of
polyunsaturates in the tissues. It is also believed to maintain the stability of cell
membranes (Davies and Stewart, 1987). Vitamin K functions primarily in the
liver where it is necessary for the formation of blood clotting factors.

Quality improvement of pulses

(a) Cooking
Pulses take considerably longer time for cooking than any other vegetable
products. The cooking processes soften the hard seed by improving the plasticity
of the cell wall, thus, facilitating cell expansion and reduction of intercellular
bond. Cell cementing material pectin is altered during cooking so that the cells
of the pulses separate with comparative ease.

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Studies reported by Raghunath and Belavady (1979a) have shown that cooking
loss of riboflavin varies from 13 to 35 per cent in the four pulses (table 7). On
the other hand cooking losses of vitamin B6 in these pulses were relatively low
(13 per cent) and constant.

Table 7: Cooking losses of riboflavin and total B6 content of dhals

Riboflavin Total B6
Dhals mg per Cooking loss mg per Cooking loss
100 g (%) 100 g (%)
Chick-pea 0.23 35.0 0.38 15.2
Pigeon-pea 0.25 17.8 0.32 13.2
Green gram 0.24 14.8 0.31 12.9
Black gram 0.25 13.2 0.24 12.8

(b) Soaking
Many pulses, particularly whole grains, have hard outer covering and need
soaking prior to cooking. During soaking water enters through the hilum and
seeps inside and causes the seed coat to wrinkle. These wrinkles are eliminated
when cotyledons swell completely. Soaking makes the pulse seed tender and
hastens the cooking process. In urad bean dal, the per cent loss of phytic
acid was 25-30 on soaking, 35-40 in ordinary cooking of soaked seeds, 6-9
on ordinary cooking of unsoaked seeds (Dulhan et al. 1989; Kataria et al.,
1989) found that soaking for 18 hr removed 30% phytic acid in mung bean
and extent of removal was still higher when the period of soaking was raised.
Khokhar and Chauhan (1986) found that the losses in the phytic acid content of
moth bean were 46-50% on soaking.

Overnight soaking results in 25-50% loss of tannins. When seeds are soaked in
water, some leakage of water-soluble nutrients from the pulses into water also

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occurs. The process is greatly enhanced in the presence of broken and split seed
coats.

(c) Sprouting
Whole grains of pulses are soaked overnight and water is drained away and
seeds are tied in a cotton cloth for sprouting. Water is sprinkled twice or thrice
a day, and in a day or two germination takes place. Moisture and warmth are
essential for germination. Mung bean can be germinated in the shortest time.

During sprouting, dormant enzymes get activated and digestibility and availability
of nutrients is improved. Starches and proteins are converted to simpler
substances. As germination proceeds, the ratio of essential to non-essential amino
acids changes, providing more of essential amino acids.

The content of B group vitamins like riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, choline and
biotin increases significantly on germination of whole grain of pulses. Ascorbic
acid is synthesized during germination. The increase in ascorbic acid is around 7
to 20 mg per 100 g of seed. Ascorbic acid content is maximal after about 30
hrs of germination.

During sprouting minerals like calcium, zinc and iron are released from bounded
form. Giri et al. (1981) found that the available iron increased with progressive
stages of germination, possibly due to the release of iron from the protein bound
combinations. It was found that mung bean had the highest percentage of increase
of absolute available iron of 731%, followed by field pea (656) and horse gram
(431). The least increase was in cowpea (2), followed by chickpea (19).

Recent studies have shown that the most commonly consumed pulses, namely
chickpea, pigeon pea, green gram and black gram, contain a significant amount
of tannin that is mostly present in the seed coat. In overnight soaking 25-50 per
cent of this tannin is lost, probably through leaching (table 8). In 24 to 48-hour

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germination, there is an additional loss of 10 to 25 per cent (Udayasekhara Rao
and Deosthale, unpublished).

Table 8: Effect of soaking, germination, and cooking: Percentage loss of

polyphenols of four Indian pulses
Percentage loss of tannin on:
Tannin Soaking Germination Cooking
(mg/100 g) 24 hours 24-28 hours Raw Germinated
Chick-pea 179 + 21 50 3-8 70 75
Pigeon-pea 996 + 93 50 3-10 60 75
Green gram 612 + 53 25 20-25 70 76
Black gram 861 + 92 25 10-25 70 77

(d) Fermentation
Fermentation process increases the digestibility, palatability and nutritive value.
There was a significant improvement in B Vitamins and ascorbic acid. Toxic
substances can be eliminated by this process and it also improves the availability
of essential amino acids and thus, the nutritional quality of protein is improved.
On fermentation, the loss of phytates in various pulses increased to 50%
(Ramakrishnan 1979).

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Table 9: Nutritional values of pulses and legumes (per 100 gms. of edible sources)
Name Moisture Protein Fat (g) Minerals Fibre Carbohydrates Energy Calcium Phosphorus Iron
(g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (Kcal) (mg) (mg) (mg)
Bengal 9.8 17.1 5.3 3.0 3.9 60.9 360 202 312 4.6
Gram
(whole)
Bengal 9.9 20.8 5.6 2.7 1.2 59.8 372 56 331 5.3
Gram
(Dal)
Black 10.9 24.0 1.4 3.2 0.9 59.6 347 154 385 3.8
Gram
(Dal)
Cow pea 13.4 24.1 1.0 3.2 3.8 54.5 323 77 414 8.6
Green 10.4 24.0 1.3 3.5 4.1 56.7 334 124 326 4.4
Gram
(Moong)
Whole
Green 10.1 24.5 1.2 3.5 0.8 59.9 348 75 405 3.9
Gram
(Moong)
Dal
Horse 11.8 22.0 0.5 3.2 5.3 57.2 321 287 311 6.77
Gram
(Kulath)
Lentil 12.4 25.1 0.7 2.1 0.7 59.0 343 69 293 7.58
(Masoor)
Moth 10.8 23.6 1.1 3.5 4.5 56.5 330 202 230 9.5
Beans
Peas 16.0 19.7 1.1 2.2 4.5 56.5 315 75 298 7.05
(dry)
Rajmah 12.0 22.9 1.3 3.2 4.8 60.6 346 260 410 5.1
Red 13.4 22.3 1.7 3.5 1.5 57.6 335 73 304 2.7
Gram
(Arhar)
Dal

Source: Nutritive values of Indian Foods, 2002.

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Uses of Legumes in Agroecology
Dr. Ashok Panigrahi

Legumes are members of the large family Leguminosae, syn. Fabaceae,

composed of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees bearing fruits that are
legumes or pods, developing nodules on the roots that contain nitrogen-fixing
bacteria, and including important proteinous food and forage plants. However,
all legumes are not edible; legume trees like Laburnum and the woody climbing
vine Wisteria are poisonous but ornamental.

Legumes are nitrogen fixers

Most cultivated legumes (with exception to only the members of the Genus
Styphnolobium) such as alfalfa, clover, grams, peas, beans, lentils, soybeans, and
peanuts etc. contain symbiotic bacteria called rhizobia within their root nodules.
These bacteria have the ability of fixing nitrogen (N) from atmospheric and
molecular sources into ammonia (NH3). Ammonia is then converted to nitrate
(NO3−) and nitrite (NO2−) in the soil with the help of another set
of bacteria, Nitrobacter. This arrangement means that the root nodules are
sources of nitrogen for legumes, making them relatively rich in plant proteins.
All proteins are made up of nitrogenous compounds called amino acids.
Nitrogen is, therefore, a necessary ingredient in the production of proteins.
Hence, legumes are known as nitrogen fixers and are among the best sources
of plant protein. Numerous legumes farmed for a variety of purposes include
a wide variety of leguminous plants such as Pisum, Lens, Phaseolus, Cymopsis,
Sesbania and Gliricidia species. Some legume species are farmed for timber
production worldwide, including numerous Acacia species and Castanospermum
australe.

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Legumes as source of soil nitrogen
Following the harvest, when legume plants die in the fields, all of their
remaining nitrogen get incorporated into amino acids, packed inside the
remaining plant tissues which then get released back into the soil under soil
incorporation. In the soil, these amino acids are converted to nitrate (NO3−)
through bacterial action, making soil-nitrogen available to other plants, thereby
serving as fertilizer for future crops. As a matter of fact, all plants need this vital
primary plant nutrient for their own growth and without which they will either
not grow or die out early.

The amount of nitrogen fixed by a legume depends on the legume variety,

the environment of the legume-bacteria association in root nodules, general
soil fertility and existing climatic conditions. Legumes used for the purpose of
enhancing soil fertility may be annual or perennial. However, compared to the
annual legumes, perennial legumes have higher levels of nitrogen fixation ability.
A portion of this fixed nitrogen is removed as hay and does not remain in the
soil. But what is left as root exudates, decaying roots and above ground stubble
is significant to maintain soil health and fertility. Sesbania sp. is the best legume
for all cereal crops, especially rice.

Growing a legume crop to be soil incorporated is an old agricultural practice

that is again gaining popularity in the event of popularization of organic farming
practices. It is used for a variety of purposes such as a soil building practice that
adds organic residues, conserves and recycles plant nutrients and protects the soil
from erosion. It is a viable alternative to conventional summer fallowing and can
reduce or eliminate dependence on artificial nitrogen fertilizers.

Early settler-cultivators of Canada seldom used legumes in rotation because

the newly cultivated grassland soils were generally fertile. However, the land’s
nitrogen status became depleted after years of cropping cereals with no addition

188
of fertilizer. Growing legumes like sweet clover as green manures or as forage
crops became an important practice for maintaining soil productivity.

Legume in crop rotation and intercropping

The use of legumes in crop rotations has increased in recent days. Many
farmers have resorted to legume cultivations with the intention to reduce
external input costs and replace the same with internal inputs that effectively
reduce the dependence on commercially produced chemical fertilizers. In many
cases, farmers have stopped using artificial chemical fertilisers altogether. The
incorporated legume residues are a biological source of nitrogen with carbon
that reduces the amount of chemical fertilizer required for the following crop.

In organic farming practices, crop rotation involving legumes is common. By

alternating between legumes and nonlegumes and sometimes using legumes
as intercrop in a field of nonlegumes, the field is made to receive sufficient
amount of nitrogenous compounds in soil to benefit the nonleguminous crop
nutritionally. According to an old practice, even visible today in Odisha, legumes
like Cajanus were cultivated along with major kharif crop of cereals like rice.

Legumes as green manure

Legumes are generally referred to as ‘green manure’ crops. Soil productivity is
an important concern for farmers. Green manuring is gaining popularity as a
method that successfully improves soil fertility and hence, its productivity. Green
manuring means growing preferably a legume that will be worked into the soil
later. The addition of organic material improves soil health. At the same time,
the nutrients used up in promoting plant growth are conserved and returned
back to the soil to enhance its fertility when plant residues are worked into
the soil. Almost any crop can be used for green manuring, but legumes are
preferred because of their ability to fix nitrogen from the air. Green manuring

189
with legumes (peas, beans, grams, clovers, lentils, etc.) is called ‘legume green
manuring’ and is more beneficial than nonleguminous plants manuring.

Multiple field studies have shown that between 10 and 20 per cent of the
total annual legume- nitrogen added to the soil through green manure is used
by the first subsequent cereal crop. An additional 64 per cent of the legume
nitrogen can be found in the top 1meter (±4 ft) of soil even a year after green
manuring. This nitrogen becomes available as the plant residues continue to
decompose within the soil. A cereal crop requires on an average 15-20 kg. /
acre of nitrogen for optimum growth. The cereal crop can obtain 5-8 kg. /acre
of nitrogen from the ploughed-down legume crop if the legume residue contains
25-30 kg. /acre of nitrogen. Assuming an additional 7-10 kg. /acre of mineral
nitrogen is released from the soil reserves, then the cereal crop will require
only about ±5 kg. /acre of nitrogen that can be met from a variety of other
sources such as vermicompost. However, high nitrogen availability in soil is not
translated into crop yield but a healthy and suitable balance between nitrogen,
phosphorus and potash, the three primary essential plant nutrients in soil.
Ideal vermicompost with green manure and fresh cow urine application is the
solution to achieve optimum crop yield. Legume green manuring is, therefore, an
essential management tool worth implementing without much fuss.

Green manures also function like cover crops. It helps protect the soil from wind
or water erosion between normal cropping periods. Growing legumes gives a
producer several advantages besides only green manuring. The crop can be a
source of high quality feed in years of hay shortage, or it can be grown for seed
and serve as a cash crop such as grams, garden pea and sesbania.

Soil incorporation of legumes and other crop residues

Incorporating crop residues to the soil by and large helps maintain soil organic
matter. The increase in soil organic matter increases plant nutrient availability

190
and improves the physical qualities of soil such as water infiltration, moisture
storage or holding capacity, aggregate stability, and resistance to erosion. It has
been estimated that a good humus rich organic soil holds 70% or more water
when the soil where chemical fertilisers are repeatedly applied holds only 18%
or less water. Soil organic matter decomposes slowly irrespective of whether
a crop is growing or not. Decomposition of organic matter releases significant
amounts of plant nutrients and it never interferes with plant growth negatively.

The intense summer tillage during fallowing physically disrupts the soil
and increases aeration, which accelerates the process of solar and moisture
penetration thereby helping decomposition of crop residues and other soil
organic matter. A substantial portion of the released nutrients remains in the soil
and is used by the crop following the fallow. When organic matter levels are
relatively high, conventional summer fallowing can be used to supply nutrients
to a crop. This decreases the need for chemical fertilizers in the long-term.

Legume plant residues are broken down into plant nutrient components by
heterotrophic bacteria that consume organic matter. Warmth and moisture
contribute to this process, similar to creating compost fertilizer. The plant matter
releases large amounts of carbon dioxide and humic acids that react with
insoluble soil minerals to release beneficial nutrients. For example, green manure
can be applied to soils that are high in calcium minerals to generate higher
phosphate content in the soil, which in turn acts as a fertilizer.

The ratio of carbon to nitrogen in soil and a plant is a crucial factor to consider,
since it will impact the nutrient content of the soil and may starve a crop of
nitrogen, if the incorrect plants are used to make green manure. The ratio of
carbon to nitrogen will differ from species to species, and depending upon the
age of the plant. The ratio is referred to as C: N. The value of N is always one,
whereas the value of carbon or carbohydrates is expressed in a value of about

191
10 to 90. The C: N ratio should ideally be less than 30:1 in the soil in order
to prevent the manure bacteria from depleting existing nitrogen in the soil.
Rhizobia are soil organisms that interact with green manure to trap atmospheric
nitrogen in the soil. Legumes, such as grams, beans, alfalfa, clover and lentils,
have root nodules rich in rhizobia, making them the preferred source of green
manure material.

Importance of cropping
Cropping is essential for nutrient recycling in farm soil. The lack of a crop to
recycle nutrients back into the soil after the fallow may cause significant losses
of some nutrients, such as nitrogen. In the crop-fallow system, common to
many parts of the world, nitrogen removed from the soil has far exceeded
that returned in crop residues or fertilizers. Reports indicate that prairie soils,
which originally had the potential to release up to 50-55 kg/acre/yr. of mineral
nitrogen, today may actually deliver as little as 4 kg/acre/yr. This decreasing
supply of plant available nitrogen results in poor crop growth and the need for
greater additions of artificial nitrogen fertilizers to obtain adequate crop yields.

Legumes as soil cover preventing soil erosion

Conventional summer fallow is used to increase moisture levels in the soil and
reduce weed populations. It, however, leaves the soil susceptible to erosion.
Legume green manuring acts as soil cover, adds more crop residues and more
nitrogen to the soil, provides protection from erosion and helps to improve soil
carbon-nitrogen levels. Thus, a legume green manure can be considered as a
better alternative to fallow system that has a soil-building cover crop on the
land for a part of the year.

Legumes like all plants use water while growing. In comparison to conventional
summer fallow, legume green manuring may reduce the amount of moisture

192
availability for the subsequent crop. However, annual legumes have been
shown to use only one-half to two-thirds the water used by a normal crop of
spring wheat. In more moist areas where recropping is common (e.g., Black
and Gray soils) this moisture reduction is usually not critical. Even in the
drier areas such as Brown and Dark Brown soil zones, green manuring will
not adversely affect yields if average rainfall occurs. This is shown in the
achieved research results of Scott, Saskatchewan on a Dark Brown soil.
However, under severe drought conditions, water loss due to growing legumes
can perhaps depress the subsequent crop yields compared to conventional
fallowing.

Managing legume green manure

Perennial, biennial and annual legumes have all been successfully used as green
manures. The choice of legume depends on soil type and climate, especially
levels of precipitation. In regions with adequate precipitation, under-seeding of
a perennial legume to be green manured in the second or even third year is a
common practice. In drier regions, annual legumes grown for six to seven weeks
before soil incorporation at full bloom do not excessively deplete soil moisture
reserves for the subsequent crop.

Perennials and biennials legumes used for green manuring include Gliricidia,
clovers and alfalfa etc. Annual legumes presently used for green manure include
field peas, flat peas (sweet pea family), grams and lentils etc.

Selection of a legume suitable for green manuring

A legume used for green manure should meet the following basic requirements:

i. Ability to provide adequate ground cover to protect against soil erosion.

ii. A high rate of nitrogen fixation and good biomass production.
iii. High water-use efficiency when used in drier regions. The legume should

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 use as little water as possible while still producing substantial quantities of
top-growth as Sesbania.
iv. Compete well with weeds, especially the broadleaved varieties.

Advantages of a legume green manure

There are many advantages to using a legume green manure crop in rotation,
which include:
i. N-fixation : the actual amount of atmospheric N that is fixed and becomes
available to subsequent crops depends on environmental conditions, soil
fertility (other than nitrogen) and overall crop health. As a rule, soil N
levels greater than 14 kg. /ac. can delay or reduce N fixation.
ii. Pest and disease control : legume green manures provide a break in cereal
and oilseed crop rotations to help minimize pest and disease pressures.
iii. Erosion control : fallow operations, especially intensive summer tillage, can
leave the soil exposed to wind and water erosion. Legume green manure
crops provide cover, and promote soil retention by helping to build soil
structure.
iv. Later seeding : green manure crops are not grown to full maturity, and
later seeding dates will not affect N-fixation negatively unless soil moisture
becomes too low. In areas where soil moisture is limiting, or where limited
soil moisture storage may become an issue, legume green manure crops
should be seeded early, and terminated before the end of June, to allow
time for soil moisture recharge.
v. Increased soil aggregation : legume crops help build soil structure over time,
which increases aeration, water infiltration and root growth, and helps
decrease the risk of soil erosion.

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The disadvantages of a legume green manure
There are also disadvantages to using legume green manure crops, which
include:

i. Moisture use : where moisture is limiting, green manure crops can utilize
moisture that may otherwise be conserved during fallow. If moisture is
not limiting, moisture uptake by green manure crops is less than moisture
uptake in crops grown to maturity.
ii. Establishment costs : a marketable crop is not achieved during the period of
green manure crop. Legume seeds come with a cost that may be additional
if not saved.
iii. Rotation limitations : a green manure crop is invariably another legume in
the crop rotation. To minimize pest and disease problems, the use of other
legume crops for grain production may need to be restricted.

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 Part 2

Monocultures,
Monopolies &
Free Trade :
Threats to Diversity
& Sovereignty
Illustration : Kaia Singh

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The Soya Empire:
How Corporations Use “Free Trade” to
Create GMO Monocultures and Monopolies
Across the world, in different climates and cultures, a diversity of pulses and
edible legumes have sustained communities over centuries.Pulses have been
the main source of vegetable protein for Indians. Multiple varieties have been
evolved and grown in India over millennia, each with its own health benefits, all
benefitting the soil by fixing nitrogen.

The diversity of pulses in our food and farming systems have disappeared in the
past half-century causing a nutritional degradation of our diets and our soils.
Instead of diversity we now have a corporate controlled global GMO soya empire,
with Monsanto controlling the seeds, and the agribusiness cartel including Cargill
and ADM controlling processing and trade.

These corporations have driven the industrialisation of production systems and

promotion of the Monoculture model of external input based agriculture called
the ‘Green Revolution’ - a mere re-branding and market creation exercise for
chemicals of the World Wars, to keep the chemical companies in business in
peace time. The Green Revolution increased monoculture acreage of wheat -
which was bred for and dependent on costly chemical inputs - displacing the
pulse based mixtures typical of indigenous farming systems.

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The introduction of GMOs in agriculture is also called the second Green
Revolution.The spread of GM soya has been made possible through the
deregulation of commerce through the globalisation of trade and distribution
systems through the corporate controlled model of “free trade” shaped by the
rules and agreements of WTO in the period 1995-2015. The Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights Agreement of WTO (TRIPS) was written by Monsanto,
which became - with the help of the laws it wrote promoting it’s own seed
monopoly - the world’s largest seed corporation (Peddling Life Sciences or Death
Sciences: Monsanto the Gene Giant by RFSTE / Navdanya / Polaris Institute).

The Agreement on Agriculture was shaped by Cargill, the world’s largest grain
trading corporation, whose Vice President was delegated to head the US
negotiating team on Agriculture. Cargill is the largest private company
in the world. Although Cargill is US based, its main commodity
trading operation is run out of Switzerland for tax evasion (Cargill
and the Corporate Hijack of Agriculture Navdanya 2007). Besides
being a major player in the trading, processing and transporting of
the most important agricultural commodities, fertiliser and meats,
it is one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

The objective of the TRIPS agreement was the collection of

royalties from patented GMOs. For Cargill, GM soya presented
a vertically integrated supply of vegetable protein, hexane-
extracted soya oil and animal feed. Each toxic step of the soya
economy profiting Monsanto or Cargill. Which is exactly
how, through the imposition of costly, chemical intensive
GM soya seeds by Monsanto and the stealthy inclusion
of soya in everything from McDonald’s burger buns
to Lays crisps, profits were vertically integrated into the
corporate industrial food system.

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It’s no wonder GM soya - corporate industrial agriculture’s ‘magic bean’ - has
spread so rapidly across the world since the 1990’s, helped along the way by
laws written by the corporations themselves.

The objective of the agreement on agriculture was market capture by dismantling

import restrictions and dumping subsidised commodities on the Third World.
The case by the US against India in the WTO, on Quantitative Restrictions, opened
the flood gates for forced imports of soya oil and pulses, destroying self reliance
and food sovereignty. (Yoked to Death RFSTE, 2001, Mirage of Market Access
RFSTE, 2003, Roti Kapda aur Makan RFSTE, 2006, Why is Every 4th Indian
Hungry Navdanya 2009). The expansion of industrial agriculture and globalised
distribution create a global market based on a few commodities, destroying
the biodiversity of economies, including local and national food systems, which
support the biodiversity of our crops and foods.

And contrary to the claim of “free trade” propagandists, prices of staples like
pulses have gone up in the Third World, and cartelisation of the big traders as well
as price manipulation by them has increased. Diversity of local crops produced
by small farmers has been replaced by a few commodities traded globally by big
traders which are inferior in nutrition and quality than the diversity they violently
displace. For the poor, “free trade” translates into less food, worse food, with less
nutrition, all at a higher cost. This is a recipe for hunger and malnutrition.

Both pulses and oilseeds were first destroyed by the monocultures of rice, wheat
and corn promoted by the Green Revolution. Now both pulses and oilseeds
diversity are being displaced in every society by expansion of monocultures of GM
soya, and dumping of GM soya oil and GMO products. Eighty-five percent of the
GM soya goes for animal feed, Monsanto seed, Monsanto chemicals, Cargill oil,
Cargill MSG, Cargill feed, Cargill meat and are destroying the planet and our health,
calling it a “Commodities Boom” while farmers - the producers of food - go hungry.

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The global soya monoculture
Alongside the coming into force in 1995, Monsanto received approval for GM
RoundUp Ready Soya in 1994 in the U.S., in Canada in 1995, in Japan and in
Argentina in 1996, in Uruguay in 1997 and in Mexico and Brazil in 1998. Once
the approval, and more importantly, TRIPS in the WTO were in place, Monsanto
looked to corner the Soy market. In The Dark Side of Soy, Mary Vance writes,
“These days the industry has discovered ways to use every part of the bean for
profit. Soy oil has become the base for most vegetable oils; soy lecithin, the
waste product left over after the soybean is processed, is used as an emulsifier;
soy flour appears in baked and packaged goods; different forms of processed
soy protein are added to everything from animal feed to muscle-building protein
powders.” RoundUp Ready Soy is in virtually every processed food and cannot
be avoided even if nutrition labels are diligently checked because the Corporate
food industry has been mislabeling products long before the GMO debate.

The Soya lobby backed by Big Ag and Big Food has managed to change
standards and laws to allow cheaply available soya products and all by-products
- some extremely toxic - into the food system. In an example of Big Ag lobbying
SANA asked the Food Safety and Inspection Service to “accurately label” frozen
pizza by removing the requirement to mention percent compositions. SANA
stated in a docket dated January 2nd, 2002, [Our] “members agree that pizza
products should be appropriately named, but we do not support the descriptive
labelling system proposed by FSIS. Listing the names of the pizza ingredients
in the product name as proposed would be awkward and cumbersome.”
…“Requiring percent labeling in the product name could also result in a
competition between companies to present the highest percent meat or poultry,
thus running counter to USDA’s goal of encouraging development of pizzas with
lower saturated fat and cholesterol content.”

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 The growth in soya production
has occurred through large
scale contract based farming.
Mechanisation and aerial
spraying of herbicides has
undermined local economies,
alienating farm workers who
have been left out of the “Soya
boom”. To profit from this
projected demand from the
industrial food complex, the Big
Six seed companies have 20
GM varieties of soya approved
in the US, all of which are
Herbicide Resistant (HT).

Table 1:
Applicant Phenotype Date Effective
Monsanto Lepidopteran-Resistant SoybeanMON 87751 10/17/14
Dow 2, 4-D, Herbicide and Glufosinate Tolerant 9/22/14
Dow 2,4-D and Glufosinate Tolerant 9/22/14
Bayer/Syngenta HPPD and Glufosinate Tolerant 7/18/14
Dow Insect Resistant 4/17/14
BASF Imidazolinone Tolerant 3/18/14
Monsanto Increased Yield 11/7/13
Bayer and M.S. Technologies Herbicide and Isoxaflutole TolerantFG72 8/21/13
Monsanto Stearidonic Acid Produced 7/13/12

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Monsanto Improved Fatty Acid Profile 12/16/11
Monsanto Insect Resistant 10/12/11
Pioneer High Oleic Acid 6/8/10
Pioneer Herbicide & Acetolactate Synthase Tolerant 7/24/08
Monsanto Herbicide Tolerant 7/23/07
AgrEvo Phosphinothricin Tolerant 11/23/98
AgrEvo Phosphinothricin Tolerant 6/8/98
Du Pont High Oleic Acid Oil 5/7/97
AgrEvo Glufosinate Tolerant 7/31/96
Monsanto Herbicide Tolerant 5/18/94
Monsanto Dicamba Tolerant

With marketing materials ready, the Soyfood Association of North America -

funded generously by Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) - waited, in
October 1999 for the FDA to declare : “25 grams of soy protein a day, as part of
a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.
Products that contain at least 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving, and are low in
fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol will be eligible to carry the claim.”

“FDA has just given the American public another reason to eat soyfoods, one
of the fastest growing segments of the soy industry,” said the President of the
Soyfoods Association of North America (SANA). A Tulane University study said
that other kinds of beans are actually twice as good at fighting heart disease than
soyabean, but it was only the soyabean that had been patented so soya was
marketed as a heart healthy food. The benefits of soyabean for the industrial food
system include the availability of cheap raw material that can be included in any
processed food and the inclusion of cheap soya allows the processed foods to be
marketed as ‘healthy’ owing to the FDA’s false recommendations. Products like

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Prolia, from Cargill are mixed into meat products so that less meat - much more
costly than soya protein - is included in industrial meat products.
Cargill states about Prolia: Even with chicken’s delicate flavor, taste tests have
concluded that patties with 10% Prolia™ defatted soy flour were indistinguishable
from all-chicken patties – and half the participants preferred them.
Adding 10% Prolia allows Cargill to sell meat products as “heart healthy”.
Demand for soya soared because consumers were misled into thinking they
were eating healthier. The FDA’s position has since been questioned by the
FDA itself.
“The FDA may determine that a re-evaluation of the health claims may be
needed when new scientific evidence does not support the current claim,”
said Kimberly Rawlings, FDA Spokesperson, in an interview in 2006. For the
Industrial food cartel, the market was ready.
Since 1997, GM soya has dramatically increased in US, Brazil and Argentina- 3
countries accounting for 80% of global soya production. In the US, acreage for
Herbicide Tolerant Soybean jumped from 17% in 1997 to 68% in 2001, and 94%
in 2014-15. Compared to other GMO crops, soybean saw a much more rapid
adoption rate because of the
market created by the FDA.
A closer look at global soya
production shows that the
increased production of soya
is due to an increase in area
harvested. Herbicide Tolerance
has no effect, wherever yield
has not actually increased with
a switch to GM soya.

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 A research paper titled
World Soybean Production:
Area Harvested, Yield, and
Long-Term Projections by
Tadayoshi Masuda and
Peter D. Goldsmith, of the
University of Illinois found:

“After 1990s, however,

the contribution of yield
growth to production growth
declined. The compound
annual growth rates of world
average soybean yield were
1.4 % in 1990-95 and 1.3%
in 1995-2000, then 0.0% in
2000-05 and -0.9% in 2005-07 (Graph 6). The world soybean production growth
rates during the above four periods (3.2%, 4.9%, 3.8% and 0.4%) are supported
by the area harvested growth rates (1.8%, 3.5%, 3.8%, and 1.3%).”

With lower yields and higher demand from the industrial food complex,
more and more land is required by the Soya machine, leading to large scale
deforestation and displacement of entire communities in order to accommodate
the greed - or “value chain” - of Monsanto, Cargill, ADM and the rest of the
Industrial food Cartel.

In Argentina, where all cultivated soya is Monsanto HT Soya, besides the loss of
livelihoods, the rampant and unchecked use of Glyphosate has created a health
epidemic of tragic proportions.

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How India was made dependent on soya and pulse imports
Since the mid 1990’s, India, which was the biggest producer of pulses and
oilseeds has been transformed into the biggest importer of pulses and oilseeds.
Since nowhere else in the world are the rich diversity of pulses and oilseeds
grown, the richness, nutrition and diversity of the diet is getting degraded.

GM soya oil is being imported to India in ever larger quantities.

“After near self-sufficiency in edible oils until the mid-1990s, Indian imports
of such oils increased rapidly to make the country the world’s largest importer
of edible oils. With domestic production of edible oils, an essential item of
mass consumption, falling short of effective demand, edible oil imports were
liberalized in April 1994 when import of edible vegetable palmolein was placed
under Open General License (OGL) with 65 per cent import duty. With this
liberalization and the demand-supply gap, a substantial part of the domestic
consumption started to be met through imports. Imports and the associated

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international prices, in turn, have direct impact on domestic production and
prices of oilseeds and oils, and hence on the livelihood of the farmers. “
Source: http://finmin.nic.in/reports/ReportRationalEC.pdf

Soybean meals are usually extracted with hexane, a solvent that is extremely
flammable and non-biorenewable, poses health risks and is regulated as a
hazardous air pollutant (O’Quinn et al., 1997).
Source: http://www.feedipedia.org/node/674

Spread of soya in India - displacing pulses

Although soya has been cultivated in India for the last millennium, it is
not a staple and has been grown sustainably on small farms. Current soya
cultivation, as a raw material for the industrial food system, is a completely
new phenomenon. With an uncertain future in South America, Monsanto,
Cargill and Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) are looking elsewhere to take over
land and ensure the global soya engine keeps chugging. In an unprecedented
arrangement, the Government of Maharashtra has entered into a Public Private
Partnership for Integrated Agriculture Development Programme (PPPIAD), an
agriculture project, with ADM - a shipping company. ADM and Monsanto
have managed to increase soya acreage from 7,000 ha in 2001 to 3.80 lakh
hectares in year 2014-15 (Kharif season) using the “well-defined institutional
mechanism” created by the government - without having to invest or work for it
- maximising profits riding on tax payer rupees.
Source: http://www.ficci.com/spdocument/20539/SOYBEAN-Report.pdf

In its report on the project, ADM states “Labor consists 30% of the total cost
of Soybean cultivation for a one acre land. Mechanization is a logical choice
when the country is looking for ways of managing agriculture labor concerns.
Introduction of new farm implements in Soybean cultivation which led to end
to end mechanized solutions led to net saving of 30% in Soybean cultivation,

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25% increase in yield and saving of Rs 640 per acre in cost of seed. Two FPOs
(Farmer Producer Organizations)formed for establishing custom hiring centres
for Soybean cultivation were very efficient. There is need to promote soybean
variety fit for mechanical harvesting.”

For ADM, 30% of the total cost of soya production being labour, money going
to the local economy for work done, is unnecessary. ADM would much rather
save the 30%, while creating a market for companies like John Deere and
Monsanto to sell expensive equipment to farmers who are currently barely
getting by. Monsanto’s Bt cotton has already pushed the farmers of Maharashtra
into a debt trap from which the only escape has been suicide. 300,000 farmers
have committed suicide since the WTO allowed Monsanto to charge exorbitant
royalties for its seeds - without which farmers who have not saved their seeds
cannot farm. Together with the Bt-Cotton growing regions, the current push for
growing soya by international corporations encompasses most of central India,
leaving the soils of the region and the farmers vulnerable.

Monsanto’s Bt cotton has been responsible for farmer suicides since its illegal
introduction in 1999, especially in Maharashtra. Farmers looking to switch from
growing the failed Bt-Cotton have jumped out of the pan and into the fire of
the predatory industrial soya economy. Soya does not have a market without
industrial processes like hexane extraction. Neither does it (or any by-products)
have any non-industrial application, hence no non-industrial market. For the
Indian soya farmer, there is one buyer - ADM. The farmer has to buy seeds
from corporations at a price determined by them and sell the harvest to ADM,
at a price determined by ADM. In Latur, where ADM claims to be improving
the standard of living of soya farmers, ADM purchased 68,089 million tonnes of
soya from farmers for a stated expense of ` 240 crore.

Since 2003, when ADM commenced its Soya “Value Chain” building exercise in
Maharashtra, farmer suicides have spread to encompass more than the Bt-Cotton

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 growing regions - to soya farmers. “Forty-
five days, 93 suicides. 2015 has started quite
ominously for farmers in the perennially parched
Marathwada region”, read a news report in early
2015. Just like Monsanto pushed irrigation-
dependent Bt-Cotton in rainfed areas of India,
ADM has pushed water intensive soya cultivation
in these same regions for corporate profits,
pushing farmers to suicide. In the same news
report, Umakant Dangat (Divisional Agriculture
Commissioner) who is thanked in ADM’s Soya
report for his facilitation of the ADM led
corporate takeover of Maharashtra’s agriculture
since 2003, says “Farmer suicide is one of the
biggest challenges before the administration.
Crop failure and debts are considered the main
reasons for farmers’ suicide”. Essentially, ADM
has joined Monsanto in continuing the genocide
of Indian farmers.

The other impact of soya expansion in India has been a reduction in cultivation
of pulses. By handing over entire regions to corporations like ADM, more
and more land is being used to grow raw materials for industry instead of
growing food. Pulses are integral to the Indian diet, and for some, the only
source of protein. A reduction in cultivated area of pulses and a move to soya
monocultures has resulted in a shortage of pulses and the resulting skyrocketing
of pulse prices in India - leaving the poorest without access to protein.
Source: http://www.mapsofindia.com/indiaagriculture/oil-seeds/soyabean-growing-states.html

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Monsanto, biopiracy and patent monopolies on soya
The global spread of soya is directly linked to the introduction of GMOs,
Intellectual Property Rights and Patents in Seed. IPRs expanded to cover living
systems and organisms is a distortion of “Innovation” and “invention”, since living
organisms and seeds are not invented. They can be modified, but not created
from scratch like machines are. Life forms have been redefined as “manufacture”,
and “machines”, robbing life of its integrity and self-organisation, its ability to
reproduce and multiply. This distortion was introduced by corporations such as
Monsanto in the TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement
of WTO. Corporate influence on Patent Law began with the drafting of the
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the WTO by the
Intellectual Property Committee (IPC) of the multilateral corporations.

James Enyart of Monsanto is on record illustrating just how deeply the TRIPs
agreement is aligned to corporate interest and against the interests of nations
and their citizens :

“Once created, the first task of the IPC was to repeat the missionary work
we did in the US in the early days, this time with the industrial associations
of Europe and Japan to convince them that a code was possible….
Besides selling our concepts at home, we went to Geneva where [we]
presented [our] document to the staff of the GATT Secretariat. We also
took the opportunity to present it to the Geneva based representatives of
a large number of countries… What I have described to you is absolutely
unprecedented in GATT. Industry has identified a major problem for
international trade. It crafted a solution, reduced it to a concrete proposal
and sold it to our own and other governments… The industries and traders
of world commerce have played simultaneously the role of patients, the
diagnosticians and the prescribing physicians.”

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Monsanto which had no presence in the seed sector prior to the 1990’s has
emerged as the most dominant player in control over seeds by using 3 strategies
– influencing international IPR law, criminalising farmers’ seed saving, buying up
companies that introduced GMOs and had patents on seeds, and entering into
licensing arrangements with potential competitors.

Monsanto controls soya seeds through patents on GM soya. Soya is an Asian

crop. As a food it was evolved in Asian cultures. Because of its anti nutritive
factors, traditional foods made from soya were always fermented such as miso,
tofu, tempeh etc. The very fact that Monsanto “owns” soya seeds through
patents is an act of Biopiracy of the biodiversity heritage of Asia, and through
this Biopiracy, Monsanto has collected billions of dollars as royalty. In just two
decades it has become the world’s biggest seed corporation.

Biopiracy is an example of false claims to “inventions”. Over the past decade,

through new property rights, corporations like Monsanto have gained control
over the diversity of life on earth, and farmers indigenous knowledge of
the breeding of soya diversity in Asia over centuries. Adding genes through
genetic engineering to a soya seed is not the invention of the seed - it is the
appropriation of 10,000 years of Asia’s farmers’ innovation.

Monsanto, which claims to have ‘invented’ the seeds it sells, cannot even claim
to have carried out the genetic engineering of soya. Soya, along with the
first transgenic varieties of cotton, peanuts, and other crops were genetically
modified by Agracetus. On March 2nd, 1994, the European Patent Office
granted a patent (Publication number 0 301 749 B1) on genetically-transformed
soybeans to Agracetus. The sweeping patent covered all forms of genetically-
transformed soybeans, regardless of the technique employed or the germplasm
involved. Agracetus being a competitor, Monsanto was not happy being excluded
from a “species monopoly” on soya. Monsanto “vigorously and formally”

210
opposed the patent, alongside the environmental groups it now undermines.
Monsanto had been licensing the technology from Agracetus since 1991. In
1996 Monsanto purchased Agracetus from WR Grace, it’s parent company,
claiming the Agracetus patents as the property of Monsanto. The 1994
arguments used by Monsanto, against Agracetus, were used by the EPO to strike
down the “species monopoly” patent - now belonging to Monsanto - on 3rd
May, 2007.
Source: GM Patent Rejected After 13 Years, Nature, 4 May 2007
Revoked!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich, Etc Group Release, 2007
http://www.ictsd.org/bridges-news/biores/news/controversial-monsanto-soy-patent-revoked-0

WR Grace itself has a history of Biopiracy. The European Patent Office (EPO) had
granted patent (0436257 B1) to the United States Department of Agriculture
and the multinational corporation W. R. Grace for a method of controlling fungi
on plants by the aid of an extract of seeds from the Neem tree. The patenting
of the fungicidal properties of Neem was a blatant example of biopiracy and
indigenous knowledge.

Dr Vandana Shiva and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and
Ecology joined hands with Magda Alvoet, President of the European Parliament’s
Green Party, and Linda Bullard, President of the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture, in 1994, and challenged the patent on the grounds of “lack of novelty
and inventive step”. We demanded the invalidation of the patent among others on
the ground that the fungicide qualities of the Neem and its use has been known in
India for over 2000 years, and for use to make insect repellents, soaps, cosmetics
and contraceptives; Neem patent was finally revoked in 2005.

Monsanto first entered the maize seed business when it purchased 40% of
DEKALB, also in 1996; it purchased the remainder of the corporation in 1998,
the same year in which it purchased Cargill’s international seed business, which
gave it access to sales and distribution facilities in 51 countries. In 2005, it

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finalised the purchase of Seminis Inc, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed
company, for $1.4 billion. This made it the world’s largest conventional seed
company at the time.

In 2007, Monsanto and BASF announced a long-term agreement to cooperate in

the research, development, and marketing of new plant biotechnology products,
and in 2015 it tried to buy the second biggest seed corporation, Syngenta.

Monsanto started selling Roundup Ready Soybean to US farmers in 1996. The

patent came off patent in 2015.

But already in 2009, Monsanto was ready with new patented soya bean,
Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® the next-generation of the Roundup Ready
soybean. And Monsanto has clearly declared that “In addition to the trait patent,
most Roundup Ready soybeans are protected by other forms of intellectual
property, such as varietal patents. These variety patents will continue to be valid
after (and usually long after) the Roundup Ready trait patent expires.”
Source: http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/roundup-ready-patent-expiration.aspx

Monsanto’s biopiracy of soya bean has not stopped inspite of the

revocation of the broad species patent. On 26th Feb 2014 Monsanto
was granted a patent
EP 08742297 for screening and selecting soyabean plants. The
soybeans concerned are wild and cultivated species stemming from
Asia and Australia. According to the patent more than 250 plants
stemming from “exotic” species were screened for biodiversity in
climate adaption and variations in maturity. The usage of hundreds
of DNA sequences representing genetic variations are claimed by
Monsanto for future conventional breeding in soybeans. The patent is
also applied in other regions such as the US, Canada, China and South
Africa, however the EPO seems to be the first to grant this scandalous patent.

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According to Christoph Then of No Patents on Seeds, “This is nothing else than
biopiracy on large scale. Monsanto tries to control access to genetic information
for example needed to develop soybean adapted to climate change. By correct
interpretation of European patent law, the EPO is not allowed to give patents on
conventional breeding. What we need is now a strong reaction from European
governments to stop these patents.”

Examples of Monsanto’s biopiracy patents

• Monsanto’s biopiracy of Indian Wheat: European Patent Office in

Munich revoked Monsanto’s patent on the Indian wheat variety, Nap Hal.
Monsanto, the biggest seed corporation was assigned the patent (No. EP
0445929 B1) on wheat on May 21st, 2003 by the EPO under the simple
title, “plants”. On January 27th, 2004 The Research Foundation for Science,
Technology and Ecology along with Greenpeace and Bharat Krishak Samaha
filed a petition at the EPO challenging the patent rights given to Monsanto,
leading to the patent being revoked.
• Monsanto’s Biopiracy of Indian Melons: In May 2011 the US company
Monsanto was awarded a European patent on conventionally bred melons (EP
1 962 578). These melons which originally stem from India have a natural
resistance to certain plant viruses. Using conventional breeding methods, this
type of resistance was introduced to other melons and is now patented as
a Monsanto “invention”. The actual plant disease, Cucurbit yellow stunting
disorder virus (CYSDV), has been spreading through North America, Europe
and North Africa for several years. The Indian melon, which confers resistance
to this virus, is registered in international seed banks as PI 313970. With
the new patent, Monsanto can now block access to all breeding material
inheriting the resistance derived from the Indian melon. The patent might
discourage future breeding efforts and the development of new melon

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 varieties. Melon breeders and farmers could be severely restricted by the
patent. At the same time, it is already known that further breeding will be
necessary to produce melons that are actually protected against the plant
virus. DeRuiter, a well known seed company in the Netherlands, originally
developed the melons. DeRuiter used plants designated PI 313970 – a non-
sweet melon from India. Monsanto acquired DeRuiter in 2008, and now owns
the patent. The patent was opposed by several organisations in 2012.On 20th
Jan 2016 the patent was revoked by the European Patent Office.

• Monsanto’s Biopiracy of Climate Resilience: Corporations like Monsanto

have taken 1500 patents on Climate Resilient crops. The climate resilient
traits will become increasingly important in times of climate instability.
Along coastal areas, farmers have evolved flood tolerant and salt
tolerant varieties of rice such as “Bhundi”, “Kalambank”, “Lunabakada”,
“Sankarchin”, “Nalidhulia”, “Ravana”, ”Seulapuni”, ”Dhosarakhuda”. Crops
such as millets have been evolved for drought tolerance, and provide food
security in water scare regions, and water scarce years.
Monsanto applied for blanket patents for “Methods of Enhancing Stress
Tolerance in plants and methods thereof” (The title of the patent was later
amended to “A method of producing a transgenic plant, with increasing
heat tolerance, salt tolerance or drought tolerance”). These traits have been
evolved by our farmers over millennia, through applying their knowledge
of breeding. On 5th July, 2013, Hon Justice Prabha Sridevi, Chair of the
Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India, and Hon Shri DPS Parmar,
technical member, dismissed Monsanto’s appeal against the rejection of
these patents that claim Monsanto has invented all resilience.

When India amended her patent acts, safeguards consistent with TRIPS were
introduced. Article 3 defines what is not patentable subject matter.

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 Article 3(d) excludes as inventions “the mere discovery of any new property
or new use for a known substance”.

Article 3(j) excludes from patentability “plants and animals in whole

or in any part thereof other than microorganisms; but including seeds,
varieties, and species, and essentially biological processes for production
or propagation of plants and animals”.

This was the article used by the Indian patent office to reject a Monsanto patent
on climate resilient seeds. While the Indian patent office rejected a Monsanto
patent, the US Supreme Court ruled on behalf of Monsanto against a farmer called
Bowman who had not bought seeds from Monsanto but purchased soybeans from
an Indiana grain elevator. The US Supreme court ruling creates intellectual property
in future generations of a grain or seed. This is biologically and intellectually
incorrect because all that Monsanto has done is add a gene for resistance to its
proprietary herbicide Round up, to (i) claim ownership of any plant/animal that
gene finds its way into and (ii) to enforce a RoundUp monopoly. Adding a gene
of RoundUp resistance does not amount to “inventing” or “creating” a soya bean
seed, its future generations and the species the gene pollutes.
Source: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-796_c07d.pdf

More free trade. More factory farms. More meat in diets.

Ninty percent of the soyabean grown today goes for animal feed and biofuel,
not for feeding people and, hence, not for alleviating hunger or poverty. Free
trade rules have increased soya cultivation for animal feed and meat production,
reducing the cultivation of actual food in the face of climate change and food
scarcity. The average German now eats four times as much meat as in 1850 and
twice as much as 100 years ago. While the “efficiency” of factory farming points
to the confined space in which animals are kept in “Concentrated Animal Farm
Operations” (CAFO), it hides the shadow acres for the animal feed.

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“Meat eats Land”
Germany’s own agricultural area comprises approximately 17 million ha. Given a virtual land grab
of 7 million ha, this means that Germany utilises additional land outside of the EU equating to
more than 40 % of its own agricultural land base. One agricultural commodity in particular is
responsible: the production of soyabeans alone accounts for 40 % of Germany’s virtual land grab.
In 2008-2010 the EU imported on average approximately 35 million tonnes (Mt) of soya and
soya products (including 13 Mt of soyabeans, more than 21 Mt of soyabean meal and 380.000
tonnes of soyabean oil). Soyabeans are further processed into soyabean oil and soyabean meal.
Soyabean meal is used almost exclusively to feed livestock. About 88 % of net imports of
soyabeans and soyabean products originate in South America, primarily in Brazil and Argentina.
At 6.4 Mt, Germany’s share in these net imports and thus its share in total EU foreign trade
in soyabean products is very significant.
If one calculates the area required to produce the imported soyabean products, the resulting total
hectarage, i.e. the soyabean land footprint, is very large. Between 2008 and 2012 the EU, on
average, utilised an area of almost 15 million ha, 13 million ha of which are located in South
America. Of these, 5.5 million ha are located in Argentina and 6.4 million ha in Brazil. Considering
the total area used for soya production in these two countries, it is obvious that the EU “claims” a
very significant share of these areas. Of the 17 million ha of agricultural land used for soyabean
production in Argentina, 33% produce soya for the EU. The figure for Brazil is approximately 30%,
of a little under 22 million ha in total. If these 15 million ha were to be transferred to Germany
it would mean that about 90 % of the country’s agricultural area would be producing soyabeans.
Germany imports 6.4 Mt of soyabean products, resulting in a production footprint of 2.6 million
ha. How is soya used in Germany? The bulk of it, i.e. soyabean meal, is fed to livestock. Germany’s
total annual consumption of soyabean meal is 4.6 Mt. The bulk of this is fed to pigs and poultry:
soyabean meal comprises 30 % or more of the concentrate feed used in these sectors. For example,
it takes almost 1 kg of soya – together with other feedstuffs used to make up an “average” feed
ration – to produce 1 kg of poultrymeat, 650 g soyabean meal for 1 kg of pork and “only”
230 g for 1 kg of beef. Soyabean meal generally plays a lesser role in the feeding of ruminants.
Acknowledgment: http://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Meat_eats_land.pdf

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Table 2:
Dish Total area needed o/w area needed for o/w area needed
meat component for soya
Roast pork 3.12 2.23 0.66
Hamburger 3.61 3.38 0.11
Chicken curry 1.36 0.76 0.38
Grilled sausage 2.26 1.96 0.35
Pasta & tomato 0.46 0.00 0.00

Converting Soya and grains into animal protein is a net negative production.
The US Dept of Agricultural Economic Research Service puts the figure of
16 kg grain to produce 1 kg of beef.
Source: Eat Less Meat,Compassion in World Farming and Navdanya, 2004, Pg 22.

The land and water footprint of factory farmed meat production is also very
high. This diversion of land and water from food for people, to feed for
animals, is a major contributor to hunger in the world. And it is also the
cause of disease and ill health for those eating less plant based diets. The FAO
and WHO have concluded that ‘traditional’, more plant based diets … swiftly
replaced by high fat, energy-dense diets with a substantial content of animal
foods has played a ‘key role’ in the upsurge of diet related preventable diseases.
Source: Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Report of Joint WHO /FAO expert
consultation, 2002, cited on pg 12 Eat Less Meat.

A shift away from growing soyabean for animals in factory farms to growing
biodiversity of pulses as part on local agriculture systems would rejuvenate
health of people, health of animals, and health of soil. It would stop land grab,
stop deforestation and also contribute to dramatically reducing emissions that
lead to climate change. Factory farming and chemical agriculture are responsible
for 50% of the Green House Gases. Nitrogen oxide, emitted through the use of

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 synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, is 300 times more potent
as a GHG than CO2. Methane, emitted from factory
farms where the soya animal feed is used, is 20 times
more potent than CO2. The industrial food cartel
- Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, DOW, Syngenta, Pioneer,
Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, PepsiCo, CocaCola et
al - is the single biggest driver of deforestation and
climate change and must be held accountable.

Soya expansion, deforestation and climate change

Two of the most common arguments used by

the agrichemical/GMO industry is that the vast
monocultures they promote are necessary to feed the
hungry and protect wilderness. The expansion of GM
soya monocultures counters both myths. 85% of the
soya is used as animal feed, not food for people.
Further, the soya expansion is a major factor in the
destruction of the forests in South America. GM Soya
beans, grown industrially are destroying forests and
biodiversity, not conserving wilderness.

About 85 percent of the world’s soybean crop is processed into meal and
vegetable oil, and virtually all of that meal is used in animal feed. Some
two percent of the soybean meal is further processed into soy flours and
proteins for food use… Approximately six percent of soybeans are used
directly as human food, mostly in Asia.
Source: More Soy, Less Forest – and No Water: 2009, http://gentleworld.org/as-we-soy-so-
shall-we-reap/

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As the WWF report states “To grow soybeans, vast expanses
of land are needed. Production is overtaking huge areas
in fragile ecosystems such as the Brazilian Cerrado (a
relatively flat, mixed woodland and savannah area
of central Brazil), the Amazon, the Chaco, and the
Atlantic Forests of South America. This threatens wildlife
and biodiversity. It also adversely affects people, the
global climate, water reserves and soil quality. In
South America, almost 4 million hectares of forests are
destroyed every year, 2.6 million of them in Brazil alone.
Although this is lower than in the 1990s, it is still far too
high and can largely be blamed on heavily soy-dependent
livestock farming.”
Source: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/
consumers/

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Roundup Ready Soybean in
Latin America:
A Machine of Hunger, Deforestation
and Socio-ecological Devastation
Miguel A. Altieri and Walter A. Pengue

The biotech industry and their research allies celebrated in 2014 the continual
expansion of biotech crops for the 19th consecutive year of commercialization.
Global biotech crop hectarage continued to grow with 18 million farmers
planting more than 181 million hectares in 2014, up from 175 million in
27 countries in 2013. The biotech industry considers this adoption a triumph
because they claim that in 28 countries, biotech crops have met the expectations
of millions of large, medium and small farmers in both industrial and developing
countries. They also claim that biotech crops are also delivering benefits to
consumers and society at large, through more affordable food, feed and fiber
that require less pesticides and hence contributing to a more sustainable
environment (James 2014). It is difficult to visualize how such biotechnological
expansion has met the needs of small farmers or consumers when 79% of the
global area of transgenic crops (84.5 million hectares) is devoted to herbicide
resistant (roundup ready), a crop mostly grown by large scale farmers for export
(not for local consumption and therefore contributing nothing to regional food
security) and in importing countries devoted for animal feed for meat production

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consumed mostly by wealthier sectors of the population. Biotech proponents
claim that 18 million farmers planted biotech crops in 2014, 90 percent of
whom were small, resource-poor farmers. Of these 7.1 million small farmers
in China and 7.7 million in India grew over 15 million hectares of Bt cotton
which is not a food crop, and in India the adoption of high price Bt cotton
has been linked to more than 270,000 rain-fed farmers who caught in a
cycle of unmanageable debt have committed suicide since 1995 (Catacora
et al 2012).

In Latin America, countries producing soybean include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,

Paraguay and Uruguay (Pengue 2015). The expansion of soybean is driven by
prices, government and agroindustrial support and importing countries
demand, especially China, the world’s largest importer of soybean and
soybean products, a market that encourages rapid proliferation of
soybean production. Soybean expansion is accompanied by massive
transportation infrastructure projects that unleash a chain of events
leading to destruction of natural habitats over wide areas beyond
to the deforestation directly caused by soybean cultivation. In Brazil
soybean profits justified improvement or construction of 8 industrial
water ways, 3 railway lines and an extensive network of roads to
bring inputs and take away produce. These have attracted private
investment in logging, mining, ranching and other practices with
severe impacts on biodiversity not accounted for by any impact
assessment study (Fearnside 2001). In Argentina, the agroindustrial
cluster area for transformation of soybean into oils and pellets is
concentrated in the Rosario region on the Parana river, turning it
into the largest soy transformation area of the world, with all the
associated infrastructure and the environmental impacts that
these entail.

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Soybean expansion and deforestation
Between 1990 and 2010, the harvested area almost doubled in Brazil from 11.4
to 23.2 million ha. In Argentina, during the same period, it more than tripled
from 4.9 to 18.1 million ha. Soybean production takes up a significant portion
of total arable land in Brazil (35%), Argentina (61%) and Paraguay (62%). By
the end of 2014 GM soybean occupies the largest area of any crop in Brazil
with more than 25% of the total cultivated land or 29.1 million hectares. In
Paraguay soybeans are planted on more than 25 % of all agricultural land in
the country, RR®soybean was grown on 1.0 million hectares in Bolivia and in
Argentina soybean acreage reached 20.8 million hectares. All this expansion is
occurring dramatically at the expense of forests and other habitats. Although
many studies have shown that deforestation is predominantly a result of pasture
expansion, recent research supports the hypothesis that an increase of soybean
has displaced pasture leading to deforestation elsewhere. In more specific terms,
soybean production has expanded northwards in Argentina and Paraguay, and
has taken important land area in the Cerrado ecosystem in Brazil, from where
it has advanced towards the Amazonian ecosystem. Since the early 1970s,
the latter region has been occupied by medium- and large-scale landholdings
for beef production in a process highly stimulated by land speculation. Since
the late 1990s, soybean production has taken over a portion of the pasture
implanted by such ranches, particularly in Mato Grosso. As a result, an important
portion of the Cerrado has been converted to agriculture, which has put more
pressure on Amazonian forests. In turn, agricultural production in Argentina is
expanding beyond traditional farmlands of central and eastern Argentina into the
arid northwest, affecting in some cases protected forests (Antoniou et al 2010).

Soybean and the expulsion of small farmers and loss of food security
Biotech promoters always cite the expansion of soybean acreage as a measure
of successful adoption of the transgenic technology by farmers. But these

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data hides the fact that soybean expansion leads to extreme land and income
concentration. In Brazil, soybean cultivation displaces 11 agricultural workers for
every one finding employment in the sector. This is not new as in the 1970s,
2,5 million people were displaced by soybean production in Parana state and
0,3 million in Rio Grande do Sul. Many of these landless people moved to the
Amazon where they cleared pristine forests pushed by structural forces. In the
Cerrado region where transgenic soybean is expanding there is relatively low
displacement because the area is not widely populated (Donald 2004).

In Argentina the situation is quite dramatic as 60 thousand farms went out of

business while the area of roundup ready soybean almost tripled. In 1998 there
were a total of 422,000 farms in Argentina while in 2002 there were 318,000
farms, a reduction of 24,5%. In one decade soybean acreage increased in 126%
at the expense of lands devoted to dairy, maize, wheat and fruit production. In
the 2003/2004 growing season, 13,7 million hectares of soybean were planted
at the expense of 2,9 million hectares of maize and 2,15 million hectares of
sunflowers (Pengue 2005). Thus by biotech industry standards huge increases
in the soybean area cultivated and more than a doubling of yields per unit
area are considered an economic and agronomic success; for the country such
increases mean more imports of basic foods, therefore loss of food sovereignty,
and for poor small farmers and consumers such increases only mean increased
food prices and more hunger (Jordan 2001).

Soybean expansion in Latin America is also related to biopolitics and the

power of multinationals. The manner in which since in the period 2002-2004,
millions of hectares of roundup ready soybean were planted in Brazil (while a
moratorium was still in effect) raises questions about how big multinationals
maneuver to expand their products over extensive areas in developing countries.
In the early years of transgenic soybean introduction into Argentina, Monsanto
did not charge royalties to farmers to use the technology. Now that farmers

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are hooked, the multinational is pressuring the government for payment of
intellectual property rights, despite the fact that Argentina signed UPOV 78
which allows farmers to save seeds for their own use. Paraguayan farmers have
just signed an agreement with Monsanto to pay the company $2 per metric ton.
Trends to control the seeds used by farmers is increasing, despite the fact that
the company claimed that it would not charge for royalties when the crop was
just expanding in the mid 1990s.

Another new and key factor fueling soybean are land grabbing foreign investors
who have taken millions of hectares of farmland in Latin America for the
production of soybean for feed and biofuels for export. Many land grabbers are
Brazilian investors, backed by their government, who are buying land to produce
food and biofuels in a growing number of other countries in Latin America and
Africa (GRAIN 2010).

Soybean cultivation and soil degradation

Soybean cultivation has always led to soil erosion, especially in areas where
soybean is not part of a long rotation. Soil loss reaches an average of 16 t/
ha in the US Midwest, a rate that is still greater than is sustainable, and it is
estimated that in Brasil and Argentina soil loss levels average between 19-30 t/
ha depending on management, slope and climate. No-till agriculture can
reduce soil loss, but with the advent of herbicide resistant soybean, many
farmers now cultivate in highly erodible lands. Farmers wrongly believe that
with no till systems there is no erosion, but research shows that despite
improved soil cover, erosion and negative changes in soil structure can still
be substantial in highly erodible lands if weed cover is reduced. In fact weed
resistance to glyphosate, are forcing many farmers to more tillage and still more
herbicides to keep superweeds at bay – a recipe for accelerated soil erosion
(Pengue 2005)

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Large scale soybean monocultures have rendered Amazonian soils unusable. In
areas of poor soils, within two years of cultivation fertilizers and lime have to be
applied heavily. In Bolivia, soybean production is expanding toward the east and
many such soybean growing areas are already compacted and soil degradation
is severe. 100,000 hectares of land with soils exhausted due to soybean were
abandoned for cattle grazing, which in turn further degrades the land. As soils
are abandoned, farmers move to other areas to once again plant soybeans and
thus repeat the vicious cycle of soil degradation (Friends of the Earth 2013).

In Argentina intensive soybean cultivation has led to massive soil nutrient

depletion. It is estimated that continuous soybean production has extracted
about 1 million metric tons of Nitrogen and about 227,000 metric tons of
Phosphorous. The cost to replenish such nutrient loss via fertilizers would cost
an estimated US$ 910 million (Pengue 2005). Increases of N and P in several
basins of Latin America which potentially can lead to eutrophication, is certainly
linked to the increase of soybean production in the various rivers’ watersheds.

Large scale soybean production is generating a strong nutrients’ “anemia” that is

affecting the best soils of south American countries. Nitrogen cascade (as result
of fertilization and nitrogen fixation) is one side of the problem and the other,
is represented by “virtual soils” represented by the exportation of the main soil
nutrients, affecting the food basket of humankind (Pengue, 2009, 2010).

A key technical factor in the rapid spread of soybean production in Brazil

was the development of soybean-bacteria combinations with pseudosymbiotic
relationships that allowed soybean production without fertilizers. This productive
advantage of Brazilian soybeans can quickly disappear in the light of findings
reporting direct toxic effects of the herbicide glyphosate on the N fixing
rizhobium bacteria, which potentially would render soybeans to depend
on chemical N fertilization. Moreover the common practice of converting

225
uncultivated pasture to soybeans results in a reduction of the economically
important rhizobia, again making soybean dependent on synthetic N.

Soybean monocultures and ecological vulnerability

Research suggests that reduction of landscape diversity due to the expansion

of monocultures at the expense of natural vegetation have historically led to
insect pest outbreaks and disease epidemics. In such species poor and genetically
homogenous landscapes insects and pathogens find ideal conditions to grow
unchecked by natural controls. The result is increased use of pesticides which
after a while are not effective due to the development of pest resistance or
ecological upsets typical of the pesticide treadmill. In addition pesticides lead
to major problems of soil and water pollution, elimination of biodiversity
and human poisonings. In the Amazon high humidity conditions under
warm conditions induce fungal populations, resulting in the increased used
of fungicides. In Brazilian regions under till soybean production, the crop is
increasingly being affected by stem canker and sudden death syndrome. Soybean
rust is a new disease increasingly affecting soybeans in South America, fueled
by humid conditions and monoculture uniformity, rust commands increased
fungicide applications. Since 1992 more than 2 million hectares are now infected
by cyst nematodes. Many of these pest problems can be linked to the genetic
uniformity and increased vulnerability of soybean monocultures, but also to
direct effects of roundup on the soil ecology, through depression of micorrizhal
fungal populations and elimination of antagonists that keep many soil-borne
pathogens under control (Altieri 2004).

In Brazil 25 % of all pesticides are used in soybean, which in 2002 received

about 50,000 metric tons of pesticides. As the soybean area rapidly expands, so
does the growth in pesticide use which is increasing at a rate of 22% per year.
While biotech promoters claim that one application of roundup is all that is

226
needed for whole season weed control, studies show that in areas of transgenic
soybean the total amount and number of herbicide applications have increased.
In the USA the use of glyphosate went up from 6,3 million pounds in 1995
to 41,8 million pounds in 2000, and now the herbicide is used on 62% of
the land devoted to soybeans. In Argentina roundup applications reached an
estimated 160 million liter equivalents in the 2004 growing season. Herbicide
usage is expected to increase as weeds start developing resistance to Roundup.

Yields of transgenic soybean average 2,3 to 2,6 t/ha in the region but 6%
less than in conventional varieties especially under drought conditions. Due to
pleiotropic effects (splitting of stems under high temperatures and water stress)
transgenic soybeans suffer 25% higher losses than conventional soybean. 72%
of the yields of transgenic soybeans were lost in the 2004/2005 drought that
affected Rio Grande do Sul which led to a 95% drop in exports with dramatic
economic consequences. Most farmers have already defaulted on 1/3 of
government loans.

Weed resistance, appearance of crop diseases

By creating crops resistant to its herbicides, biotech companies can expand

markets for its patented chemicals. Observers gave a value of $75 million
for herbicide-resistant crops in 1995 and by the year 2000 the market was
approximately $805 million, representing a 61 percent growth. Globally, in 2002
herbicide resistant soybean occupied 36.5 million hectares making it by far the
number one GE crop in terms of area (James 2004). Glyphosate is cheaper than
other herbicides, and although it is reducing the use of other herbicides in the
final analysis, overall companies sell much more herbicide (especially glyphosate)
than before.The continuous use of herbicides and especially of glyphosate (also
known as “Roundup” by Monsanto), which herbicide-resistant crops tolerate,
can lead to serious ecological problems. It is well documented that when a

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single herbicide is used repeatedly on a crop, the chances of herbicide resistance
developing in weed populations greatly increases. About 216 cases of pesticide
resistance have been reported in one or more herbicide chemical families (Rissler
and Mellon 1996)

Given industry pressures to increase herbicide sales, acreage treated with broad-
spectrum herbicides will expand, exacerbating the resistance problem. As the
area treated with glyphosate expands, the increased use of this herbicide
will result in weed resistance, even if more slowly. This has already been
documented with Australian populations of annual ryegrass, quackgrass, birdsfoot
trefoil, Cirsium arvense, and Eleusine indica. (Altieri 2004) In the Argentinian
Pampas 16 species of weeds, among them 2 species of Verbena and one
species of Ipomoea, already exhibit resistance to glyphosate (Pengue 2005).
Current emergence of Jonsongrass resistance (called SARG) put in alert the whole
industrial agricultural complex (Pengue 2009). Millions of hectares in Argentina
are under pressure of weed resistance appearance.

Herbicide resistance becomes more of a problem as the number of herbicide

modes of action to which weeds are exposed become fewer and fewer, a trend
that transgenic soybean reinforces due to market forces. Due to the high levels
of use of glyphosate several weed species in soybean fields have shifted in
Brazil to those that can more successfully withstand glyphosate or to those that
avoid the time of its application. Five weed species Conyza bonariensis, Conyza
canadensis, Lolium multiflorum, Digitaria insularis, and Euphorbia heterophylla
have evolved glyphosate resistance. A glyphosate-resistant biotype of Sorghum
halepense has evolved in GRS in Argentina and one of D. insularis in Paraguay
(Cerdera and Duke 2006). In South America there is a tendency for farmers to
increase herbicide rates or to resort to other herbicides like 2,4-D to overcome
glyphosate weed resistance, thus increasingly becoming victims of a “pesticide
treadmill” (Binimelis, Pengue and Monterroso 2009).

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In many instances it has been shown that increased applications of glyphosate
predisposes crop plants to infectious diseases. Glyphosate inhibits the biosynthesis
of the aromatic amino acids, thereby reducing biosynthesis pathogen defense
compounds, for example lowering phytoalexin levels and thus increasing
susceptibility to plant pathogens. The damage from Corynespora root rot,
previously considered minor is now becoming economically damaging in
Roundup Ready® soybeans since application of glyphosate to Roundup Ready®
soybeans greatly increases severity of this disease. This fungal root rot is more
severe when glyphosate is applied to soybeans under weedy conditions even
though the weeds may not be hosts for Corynespora cassiicola. The weeds serve
to translocate and release more glyphosate into the rhizosphere environment
to reduce the population of Mn-reducing organisms and increase Mn oxidizing
organisms. This change in soil biology limits manganese availability for plant
uptake and active defense reactions, and acts synergistically with Corynespora to
increase disease (Johal and Huber 2009).

Ecological impacts
A recent report by Friends of the Earth, Europe (2013) examines in detail the
negative effects on ecosystems and associated biodiversity. The main use of
glyphosate is to eliminate common weeds which can be important food sources
for insect, bird and animal species in agricultural areas. Weeds provide food
and nectar sources for insects, which in turn feed birds. Weed seeds can also
be vital winter foods for many declining bird species, such as corn bunting and
skylark. Evaluations (FSE) of GM crops in the UK between 1999 and 2003,
showed a significant loss of weeds and weed seeds in the GM glyphosate
resistant sugar beet, compared to the conventional crop. The UK government’s
scientific advisory committee spelled out the significance of the results, stating
that GM glyphosate resistant beet results in adverse effects on arable weed
populations [which] would be likely to result in adverse effects on organisms

229
at higher trophic levels (e.g. farmland birds), compared with conventionally
managed beet.

Large scale cropping of GE crops encourages aerial application of herbicides and

much of what is sprayed is wasted through leaching affecting soil microorganisms
such as mycorrhizal fungi and even earthworms. But companies contend that
glyphosate degrade rapidly in the soil, do not accumulate in ground water, have
no effects on non-target organisms, leave no residue in foods and water or soil.
Glyphosate has been reported to be toxic to some non target species in the
soil-both to beneficial predators such as spiders, mites, and carabid beetles, and
to detritivores such as earthworms, including microfauna as well as to aquatic
organisms, including fish (Rissler and Mellon 1996).

Glyphosate is very systemic in the plant and is being released through the roots
into the soil and many studies show that long-term use of glyphosate can have
toxic effects on microorganisms and can stimulate them to germinate spores and
colonize root systems. Glyphosate seems to act in a similar fashion to antibiotics
by altering soil biology in a yet unknown way altering the whole soil biology.
Many researchers are seeing differences in bacteria in plant roots and changes
in nutrient availability. The repeated use of glyphosate may create a selection
pressure in soil microbial communities that could affect the nutrient dynamics
such as K. Other researchers are showing that glyphosate can immobilize
manganese, an essential plant micronutrient. The most obvious impact is on
rhizobia, a bacterium that fixes nitrogen. It has been shown that glyphosate
can be toxic to rhizobia. Studies have demonstrated that glyphosate reduces
the ability of soybeans and clover to fix nitrogen. Other studies document how
glyphosate reduces growth of beneficial soil-dwelling mycorrhizal fungi, which
are key for helping plants extract phosphorous from the soil (Cerdeira and
Duke 2006).

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Human health effects
Glyphosate is a systemic herbicide (it moves through the plant phloem) and
is carried into the harvested parts of plants. Exactly how much glyphosate is
present in the seeds of HT corn or soybeans is not known as grain products are
not included in conventional market surveys for pesticide residues. The fact that
this and other herbicides are known to accumulate in fruits and tubers because
they suffer little metabolic degradation in plants, raises questions about food
safety, especially now that more millions of liters of this herbicide are used
annually in the United States, Brasil and Argentina (Rissler and Mellon 1996).
It is known that glyphosate disrupts the endocrine system and the balance of
gut bacteria, it damages DNA and is a driver of mutations that lead to cancer.
Even in the absence of immediate (acute) effects, it might take 40 years for a
potential carcinogen to act in enough people for it to be detected as a cause.
Swanson et al (2014) searched US government databases on herbicide resistant
soybean, glyphosate application data and disease epidemiological data. They
performed correlation analyses on a total of 22 diseases in these time-series data
sets. These data show very strong and highly significant correlations between the
increasing use of glyphosate, GE crop growth and the increase in a multitude
of diseases. Many of the graphs show sudden increases in the rates of diseases
in the mid-1990s that coincide with the commercial production of glyphosate-
resistant GE crops.

The dilution of glyphosate in Roundup formulation may multiply its endocrine

disruptor effect. Researchers exposed human liver HepG2 cells to study
xenobitioc toxicity of 4 different formulations of glyphosate based herbicides
and measured cytotoxitiy, genotoxicity as well as anti-estrogenic and androgenic
effects and found that all parameters were disrtupted in 24 hours at sub-
agricultural dosages in all formulations (Gasnier et al 2009)

231
Conclusions
Soybean expansion in Latin America represents a recent and powerful threat to
biodiversity, local communities and periurban areas in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay,
Uruguay and Bolivia. These crops are major users of Round Up which has been
shown to pollute rivers and surface waters, contaminate organisms including
humans but also food and ecosystems. The use and presence of glyphosate
herbicides is further increased by the expansion of herbicide resistant crops.
Transgenic soybeans are much more environmentally damaging than other crops
because in addition to the effects derived from the production methods, mainly
heavy herbicide use and genetic pollution, they require massive transportation
infrastructure projects (waterways, highways, railways, etc.) which impact
ecosystems and make wide areas accessible to other environmentally unsound
economic and extractive activities. New events of transgenic soybean (RR2Bt)
are opening the ecological borders in the north of Argentina, Paraguay and
Brazil, helping and promoting the deforestation. Appearance of pest resistance
is rising.

In the last two decades, the best agricultural lands have been put into transgenic
soybean production by large-scale producers closely linked to foreign investors,
particularly Brazilians. Foreigners now control millions of hectares of prime
agricultural and ranching lands in Paraguay and Bolivia. This land grabbing
processes poses several socio-economic challenges. Foreign control over land and
resources for industrial agriculture is undermining regional and national food
security. Bolivia imported a record $1.1 billion in food between 2006-2010 (over
600,000 tons in 2009 alone). While food imports maintain domestic price stability
and satisfy the increasing urban demand, they discourage domestic production, in
particular, that of smallholder farmers. Meanwhile, the great majority of the profits
obtained by foreigners in the commercial soy and ranching sectors are repatriated
to their country of origin—particularly Brazil and Argentina.

232
Production of herbicide resistant soybean leads to environmental problems such
as deforestation, soil degradation, pesticide and genetic pollution, as well as
to socio-economic problems such as severe concentration of land and income,
expulsion of rural populations to the Amazonian frontier and to urban areas,
compounding the concentration of the poor in cities. Soybean expansion also
diverts government funds otherwise usable in education, health and in the
search for alternative agroecological methods.

The multiple impacts of soybean expansion also reduce the food security
potential of target countries as much land previously devoted to grains, dairy or
fruits is now devoted to soybean for exports which is used in many countries
as animal feed and also increasingly as biofuel. As long as these GMO soybean
south American countries continue to embrace neoliberal models of development
and respond to demand signals (especially China) from the globalized economy,
the rapid proliferation of soybean will increase, and so will the associated
ecological and social impacts.

References
Altieri, M.A. 2004. Genetic engineering in agriculture: the myths, environmental risks and
alternatives. Food First Books, Oakland.
Antoniou, M et. al. 2010. GM –soy: sustainable? Responsible? http://www.gmwatch.org/files/
GMsoy_SustainableResponsible_Sept2010_Summary.pdf
Binimelis, R., Pengue, W.A. and Monterroso, I. “Transgenic treadmill”: Responses to the emergence
and spread of glyphosate-resistant johnsongrass in Argentina Geoforum Volume 40, Issue 4, July
2009: 623-633.
Catacora-Vargas, G. et. Al. 2012. “Soybean Production in the Southern Cone of the Americas:
Update on Land and Pesticide Use”. Cochabamba, GenØk / UFSC / REDES-AT / BASE-Is
Cerdeira, A. L.; Duke, S. O. The current status and environmental impacts of glyphosate-resistant
crops: a review. J. Environ. Qual. 2006, 35, 1633–1658.
Donald, P.F. 2004. Biodiversity impacts of some agricultural commodity production systems.
Conservation Biology 18:17-37

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Fearnside, P.M. 2001. Soybean cultivation as a threat to the environment in Brazil. Environmental
Conservation 28: 23-28
Friends of the Earth 2013 The environmental impacts of glyphosate. Brussels.
Gasnier, C et al 2009 Glyphosate based herbicides are toxic and endocrine disruptors in human cell
lines. Toxicity 262: 184-191
Johal, G.S., D.M. Huber 2009 Glyphosate effects on diseases of plants. Europ. J. Agronomy 31: 144–152
Grain 2010. https://www.grain.org/article/entries/3995-land-grabbing-in-latin-america
James, C. 2014. Global review of commercialized transgenic crops: 2004. International Service for
the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Application Briefs No 49-2002. Ithaca, New York. http://isaaa.org/
resources/publications/briefs/49/default.asp
Jason, C. 2004. World agriculture and the environment. Island Press. Washington
Jordan, J.F. 2001. Genetic engineering, the farm crisis and world hunger. BioScience 52: 523-529
Pacheco, P. 2012 Soybean and oil palm expansion in South America: A review of main trends and
implications. Working Paper 90, Center for International Forestry Research. Bogor.
Pengue, W. 2005. Transgenic crops in Argentina: the ecological and social debt. Bulletin of Science,
Technology and Society 25: 314-322
Pengue, W.A.2009. Bioinvasiones y Bioeconomia: El caso del sorgo de Alepo en la agricultura
argentina. FLACSO Guatemala.
Pengue, W.A. 2010. Suelo Virtual y Comercio International – Realidad Econdmica, 250: 52-74.
Marzo, Buenos Aires.
Pengue, W. A. 2015. Dinámicas y perspectivas de la Agricultura Latinoamericana (BAPU).
Fundacion Heinrich Boll Cono Sur. Santiago de Chile.
Richard, S et al 2005 Differential Effects of Glyphosate and Roundup on Human Placental Cells
and Aromatase Environmental Health Perspectives 113: 716-720
Rissler, J. and Mellon, M. 1996. The ecological risks of engineered crops. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Swanson,N.L., Leu, A Abrahamson, J and Wallet B 2014 Genetically engineered crops, glyphosate and
the deterioration of health in the United States of America Journal of Organic Systems 9 : 6-37
Urioste, M.F.C. 2013 The Great Soy Expansion: Brazilian Land Grabs in Eastern Bolivia http://
upsidedownworld.org/main/bolivia-archives-31/4471-the-great-soy-expansion-brazilian-land-grabs-in-
eastern-bolivia

234
The Case of the Disappearing Dal:
How India was transformed from being
the Biggest Producer of Diverse Pulses
to becoming the Biggest Importer of
nutritionally inferior substitutes
Pulses: missing ‘dal’ from ‘thali’

India is ranked as the highest in terms of diversity and production of pulses. Not
only was it the largest producer but it was also the largest consumer of pulses in
the world. It accounted for nearly 25% of global production and 27% of world
consumption. Yet because of the rice and wheat monocultures of the Green
Revolution, and increasing dependence on imports to meet the gap,today India
has emerged as a major importer of pulses. But the imports cannot substitute
for the diversity, nutrition and quality lost by not growing our own pulses for
the ecological health of our soils, the economic health of our farmers, and
nutritional health of our people.

Amongst the rich diversity of pulses India produces we can count tur/arhar
(pigeon pea, 18 per cent), chana (gram/chick pea, 40 per cent) urad (black
gram, 11 per cent), moong (green gram, 9 per cent), masur (lentil, 8 per cent),
matar (peas, 5 per cent) and rajma (kidney bean) as major ones and horsegram
(kulath/gehath), cowpea (lobia/chori), grasspea (khesari), moth bean (moth), rice

235
 bean (navrangi) and lablab (val) as minor ones, to the tune of 13-15 million
tons annually from an area of 22-23 million ha with an average yield of
600-650 kg/ha (Ali & Kumar, 2007)

In India pulses are cultivated in both kharif (autumn harvested crop) and rabi
(spring harvested crop) season, though production in rabi season accounts for a
higher share of total pulses produced in the country.

Globally, India accounts for about 33% of the world pulses area. About 90 per
cent of the total global pigeon pea, 65 per cent of chickpea and 37 per cent
of lentil areas fall in India with the corresponding global production of 93
per cent, 68 per cent and 32 per cent, respectively. However India’s rank in
productivity is low, 24th in chickpea, 9th in pigeon pea, 23rd in lentil and
98th in total pulses. The growth rate of area under pulse crops was just 0.04
per cent during the period 1967-68 to 2009; as a result pulses’ share
in the total food grain production reduced from 17
per cent in 1961 to 7 per cent in 2009. Government
has acknowledged the need to urgently bring more
area under pulses during this kharif season on a
sustained basis, as the country urgently needs to
bring an additional 20 lakh hectares under pulses in
order to boost production by 20 lakh tonnes at least
(Economic Times, 2007).
The dismal situation is largely a consequence of the
Green Revolution policies promoting monocultures of
rice and wheat, and driving out pulses and oilseeds
from farming systems. In India the irrigated area
under pulses is only 12% while in the case of wheat
and rice it is more than 60% of the total area.
Lentil

236
Pulses: Beyond the reach of aam admi, the common man
Pulses (dal) are an essential part of Indians’ diet of Indians across the country,
whether in the rice or the wheat belts. For the poor, it is often the only source
of protein.

With the Green Revolution, focusing on irrigated rice and wheat, and wheat
yields going up 3.5 times, pulses have been comparatively neglected in our
agriculture and food security policies, registering only a 0.5 increase. Despite
being a country in which our cultivation and consumption of pulses have been
vital to our indigenous agriculture and food systems, India has allowed the
humble dal to go out of the reach of the common man. This situation is due
to several factors, most importantly shrinking biodiversity through Green
Revolution, unfair pricing policies regarding pulses, trade liberalization and
corruption as well as profiteering in the imports of pulses as a globally traded
commodity.

The major pulse producing states of India are Madhya Pradesh (23 per cent),
Uttar Pradesh (18 per cent), Maharashtra (14 per cent), Rajasthan (11 per
cent), Andhra Pradesh (9 per cent) and Karnataka (6 per cent) where pulses
are predominantly grown as rainfed crops. Domestic production of pulses after
its peak of 14.94 million tons in 2003-04 had declined to 13.38 million tons
in 2004-05 and to 13.11 million tons in 2005-06 due to adverse climatic
conditions prevalent in the major production states as well as lack of attention
to pulses in government policies.

Rainfed pulses in northern plains are now becoming a high risk crops mainly due
to wide fluctuations in temperature and rainfall characteristics (uncertain, erratic
and inadequate rainfall). The cultivation of pulses in these regions has now turned
to a big gamble for traditional farmers growing pulses (Ali et al 2009).

237
Climate modeling systems envisage that as the twenty first century progresses,
there will be higher levels of warming in northern parts of India with rapid
increase in night temperatures which will in turn adversely affect the crop
productivity. Indigenous varieties have climate resilience and climate resilience is
enhanced with diversity.
The winter legumes under rainfed conditions in northern plains are experiencing
a kind of hidden stress that is atmospheric drought, associated with insufficient
or lack of dew precipitation, as a result of higher night temperatures. The
moisture available in the air termed as “invisible water reservoir of nature”, can
be easily accessed by the crops provided nights are cool enough to form dew.
A significant regional shift in area of pulses has been witnessed during post-Green
Revolution period. The pulses under cultivation in northern plains is now almost
half as compared to that during 1971-1975. On the contrary, the area in central
and southern Indian has been progressively increasing and has now almost doubled.
The Government network for reaching scientific advice and suitable seeds to
farmers is weak in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and Bihar which have
high potential for pulse production (Mishra 2010).
Fluctuation in yields is also high because pulses are especially susceptible to
pests and diseases and are grown in rainfed areas. Pulses are rich in proteins so
pests love them. Every year 2-2.4 million tonnes of pulses worth Rs. 6000 crore
are lost due to pest attack. More than 250 insect species are reported to affect
pulses in India. Nearly a dozen cause heavy losses. Podborer causes the most
harm, followed by pod fly.
Pulses are also extremely sensitive to heat and cold. Too much energy quickens
flowering but reduces the seed potential. Cool season pulses like chick9pea are
often subjected to chilling temperature in North India; however there has not
been a breakthrough in chill and frost tolerant varieties.

238
Table 3 shows the pulses acreage, production and productivity during 1970-71 and
2013-14. The average yield of pulses in the country is about 700 kg/ per hectare,
where as the yield in developed nation is as high as 1700 kg/ per hectare.

Table 3: Pulses acreage, production and productivity from

1970-71 to 2013-14.

Year Area (Million Hectare) Production (Million Tonnes) Productivity Kg/Hect.

1970-71 22.6 11.8 524
1980-81 22.5 10.6 473
1990-91 24.7 14.3 578
1999-2000 21.11 13.41 635
2000-01 20.34 11.07 544
2001-02 22.00 13.36 607
2002-03 20.49 11.12 543
2003-04 23.45 14.90 635
2004-05 22.76 13.12 577
2005-06 22.39 13.38 598
2006-07 23.19 14.19 612
2007-08 23.63 14.76 625
2008-09 22.09 14.56 659
2009-10 23.28 14.66 630
2010-11 26.40 18.24 691
2011-12 24.46 17.08 699
2012-13 23.3 18.3 764
2013-14 25.2 19.3 735

Source: Directorate of Economics of Statistics, Department of Agriculture and Co-operation,

Mininsty of Agriculture, New Delhi
*Economic Survey 2014-15

239
The output of pulses has stagnated at 13-14 million tonnes for many years.

Source: for wheat http://www.indexmundi.com agriculture/?country=in&commodity=wheat&graph=production

Source: for rice Source Directorate of Economics and statistics http://www.airea.net/page/62/statistical-data/all-india-area-
production-and-yield-of-rice in http://www.crri.nic.in/crri_vision2030_2011.pdf

240
Table 4: Per capita availability of
Pulses during 1961-2011.

Year Per capita net availability The shortage of pulses results in a nutritional
per day in grams emergency, a fact admitted by the Economic
1961 69.0 Survey 2008-09. During the last five decades, the
net availability of pulses has reduced to less than
1971 51.2
half, from highest at 74.9 gms per day in 1959,
1981 37.5
69.0 gm per day in 1961 to 29.1 gm per day
1991 41.1
in 2003. Indian Council for Medical Research
2001 30.0
(ICMR) recommends 65 gms of pulses for an
2002 35.4
adult every day. Though the per capita availability
2003 29.1
has gone up to 41.9 gm per capita per day in
2004 35.8
2013. This, the increased availability, is the result
2005 31.5
of imports of inferior quality dals like yellow pea;
2006 32.5
moreover with rising prices the poor have no access
2007 35.5
to dals.
2008 41.8
2009 37.0 Major pulse producing states
2010 35.4
According to Table 5 total pulses production in
2011 43
2011-12 in the country was about 17 million
2012 41.7
tones. With 4.161 million tones pulse production
2013 41.9
in 2011-12, Madhya Pradesh ranks first, with
Source: Economic Survey 2014-15
Rajasthan being second, closely followed by
Uttar Pradesh.

241
Table 5: Major pulse producing states 2011-12

State Production (Million Tonnes) Share (Percentage)*

Madhya Pradesh 4.161 24.35
Rajasthan 2.432 14.23
Uttar Pradesh 2.403 14.06
Maharashtra 2.268 13.27
Andhra Pradesh 1.230 7.20
Karnataka 1.134 6.63
Gujarat 0.780 4.56
Other 2.672 15.64
Total 17.088

Source: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture & Co-operation, Ministry
of Agriculture, New Delhi
*Percentage estimated by Navdanya.

During 2011-12, the productivity of the pulses in the country was recorded
as 699 kg/Hectare with highest in UP (993 Kg/Hec), Bihar (976 Kg/Hec) and
Jharkhand (885 Kg/Hec).

Minimum support prices for pulses

We have seen how the productivity of pulses have declined over the years with
the main contributing factors being the Green Revolution and the subsequent
negative impacts in terms of shrinking diversity as well as deteriorating climate
given that chemical agriculture contributes to climate change.

Wherever Navdanya works it has corrected the trend of disappearing diversity

of pulses through the conservation of pulses such as naurangi and kulath. So
doing, since these are legumes, nitrogen is also naturally put back into the soil.
Moreover healthy and nutritious pulses are reintegrated into diets.

242
Minimum Support Price (MSP) for any crop is only one of the mechanisms to
increase production, and price alone cannot do the magic. The farmer should get
an assured price and assured market. It is one of the reasons that the production
of mainly four crops – wheat, rice, sugarcane and cotton has gone up. These
are the only four crops where the market is assured whether through FCI, other
Government agencies or private traders. In the case of pulses, there is no assured
procurement of the produce. Very often farmers growing pulses have to resort to
distress sale. Giant corporations have now entered into partnering with Government
and are further driving down prices as the case of ADM & soya shows.

There is a vast difference between the minimum support price (MSP) of pulses
and the wholesale price. Pulse growers receive less than 25 per cent of the
price that the consumer pays for the product due to a long chain of assorted
middlemen, transporters, wholesalers, millers and retailers who bring the
produce from farms to consumers.

The government’s target of producing 15 million tonnes per year has not
been achieved for several years, forcing imports of around two million tonnes
every year. Per capita availability of pulses has actually been declining – a sad
comment on a country which is the largest producer of pulses in the world, with
25 per cent of global production (Shiva 2006).

The disadvantages and risk involved in growing pulses are not compensated by
MSP. For pulses like moong, the MSP of Rs. 4500 per quintal (Rs. 45 per Kg)
is higher than the MSP of Rs. 1500 for 100 Kg of paddy. While paddy yields
about 3000 Kg per Hectare, pulses have a national average of 700 Kg. In
recent years, Government has sharply hiked up the MSP. Experience has shown
that Government agencies such as National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
Federation (NAFED) play an almost negligible role in procuring the pulses. The
volume of the procured pulses is so small that it cannot influence the decision
making of farmers about pulse cultivation.

243
Notwithstanding the substantial increase in the MSP for pulses, the difference in
the gross earnings between growing pulses and wheat is still so large that it is
far more lucrative for the farmers to grow wheat. Thus the price signals given by
the increased MSPs for pulses proved to be inadequate to achieve their targeted
objectives of increasing yield and the area of cultivation.

While the rising MSPs for pulses in recent years reflect the policy intention of
the Government to promote the cultivation of pulses, these increases failed to
create adequate incentives to bring about commensurate increases in either the
area under cultivation or the yield per unit area.

The MSP of major pulses during 1990-91 and 2012-13 is given in Graph 7.

Source: Economic Survey 2013-14

244
The pulse crisis as an opportunity for global agribusiness
Pulses are vital to the Indian diet. Rise in prices of pulses have been of grave
concern for the Government and consumers alike. Official measures such as ban
on exports, zero duty imports, storage control, subsidized imports through public
sector trading enterprises and so on have yielded very little result.
There has always been a marked difference between the farm gate prices of dal
and the retail rates, but in the recent years, the gap has widened. At the retail
end, there is enormous profit to be made by simply ignoring changes in the
wholesale market and sticking to the same (usually higher) price until stock last
or consumers stop buying.
Margins at the retail level is as high as 30% and even higher, and on occasions,
profits are more than the price growers get. The figures are mind-boggling as we
shall see later on.

Table 6: Rising pulses prices (retail in Rs. per kg) in the major cities of India

City Tur/Arhar Moong Udad Masoor

May May May May May May May May
‘15 ‘14 ‘15 ‘14 ‘15 ‘14 ‘15 ‘14
Delhi 108 75 107 101 110 71 94 25
Shimla 110 75 110 75 - - - -
Ahmedabad 92 65 - - 86 28 80 35
Guwahati 93 63 105 95 106 35 87 21
Vijaywada 92 64 109 96 94 29 71 40

Source: From field studies

The main reason for the runaway price rise is the steady decline in its per capita
availability, to less than 10 kg a year now, combined with speculation linked to
imports and domestic distribution.

245
The Union government took a decision to go in for large-scale additional import
of pulses, other than the pulses already imported by private traders. The reason
given was that in recent times, prices of pulses have escalated further compared
to earlier prices.
“Within one month, the price of the inferior variety of arhar dal went up from
Rs. 60 to Rs. 110,” says Sunita a domestic worker living in a hut colony of
South Delhi. The price of the superior variety of arhar is Rs. 138 per kg. With
most of the pulses selling at over Rs. 100 per kg. the aam admi- common man
is wondering if ‘dal’ is going out of his ‘thali’ (platter).
Pulses production is estimated to have fallen to 18.4 million tonnes in 2014-15
crop year (July-June) from 19.80 million tonnes in the previous crop year due
to deficient monsoon 2014-15 and unseasonal rains and hailstorms during
March-April this year.

Source: CAG 2012

246
 India imports significant quantities of pulses from Canada (80%) USA
(13%) Australia, Myanmar, Nepal also export to India Other countries,
including Ukraine, France, China and Tanzania are also offering varying
quantities of pulses to India (ASSOCHAM, 2008).
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cartel-hoarding-dal-stocks-abroad-to-jack-
up-prices-IB/articleshow/50725245.cms

For many pulses, large shares of import, including desi chickpeas, pigeon peas,
mung beans, and kidney bean, come from Myanmar. Canada and Australia are
major suppliers of dry peas and kabuli chickpeas to the Indian market, each
supplying about one- third of India’s pea imports.

The pulses imported during the 20-year period from 1991 to 2011 were dun
peas, moong, tur, urad and yellow peas. Moong, tur and urad were imported
primarily from Myanmar, dun peas from Australia and masur from Australia and
yellow peas, from Canada. Yellow pea, which is neither tur or chana, has few
takers. The import of pulses increased considerably from about 3.5 lakh
tonnes in 2000-01 to about 45 lakh tonnes in 2014-15. The global
pulses market is not a large one, compared to that of wheat, maize,
oilseeds or even rice. In 2005,the total world trade in pulses was
estimated at 3-3.5 million tonnes with India being the world’s largest
buyer of pulses.

Other non pulse growing countries are now exporting inferior

quality pulses to India. It is unfortunate that the pulses crises in
India, paradoxically a global leader in terms of pulses’ production,
as mentioned earlier, has been turned into an opportunity by
agribusiness to create an import dependence as the case of imports
of pulses from Canada illustrates. The millionaire farmers of Canada,
a country which has a recent history of agriculture and has only
Vetchling

247
started to grow pulses now, are profiting by the pulses scarcity of India. It is a
case of agribusiness gaining and farmers losing since the pulses are being grown
on mega farms. The family farmers of Canada are being destroyed just like the
Indian farmers are.

Pulse cultivation in Canada has jumped 11 fold since 1981 and is now
2.2 million ha. In 2011, Saskatchewan was home to the largest pulse area
in the country with 1.7 million hectares. This represented 79.3% of the
total pulse area in Canada. Saskatchewan accounted for 68.3% of dry pea
area, 86.9% of chickpea area, and 96.0% of lentil area. Concentration
of landholdings have also increased.

Pulses are grown mostly by large farms and these farms have increased
in size significantly between 1981 and 2011. In 1981 average farm size
was 266.5 hectares. By 2011 it had increased four fold to an average
of 1,070.3 hectares

More than a third of farms growing pulses (36.7%) in 2011 had a total
farm size of over 1,000 hectares. These 4,440 farms accounted for over
two-thirds of Canada’s pulse acreage (1.5 million hectares or 67.7%).

Smaller farms (those with less than 250 hectares) made up 16.3% of
farms growing pulses, and accounted for 3.2% of the total national pulse
area. This is a change from three decades earlier when smaller farms
made up 63.0% of farms reporting pulses and accounted for 42.3% of
the national pulse area. Larger pulse farms (over 1,000 hectares) at that
time represented only 2.8% of farms reporting pulses and accounted for
7.1% of total pulse area. The following graph shows pulse seeded areas
by variety:

248
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 1981 to 2011

Chickpea

249
 Table 7: Pulses: number of farms and average areas by farm size, Canada,
1981 and 2011

Farm size Number of farms Percentage of Average total Average pulse

total pulse area farm area area

1981 2011 1981 2011 1981 2011 1981 2011

Peanut number percent hectares hectares
All pulse 6,392 12,110 100 100 266.5 1,070.3 30.3 178.2
farms
Less than 250 4,029 1,975 42.3 3.2 110.9 120.7 20.3 34.9
hectares
250 to 499 1,456 2,149 28.8 7.6 346.3 365.9 38.3 75.9
hectares
500 to 999 729 3,546 21.7 21.5 672.1 730.2 57.5 130.9
hectares
1,000 to 155 2,981 5.9 31.8 1,290.8 1,384.6 73.5 230.2
1,999 hectares
2,000 hectares 23 1,459 1.2 35.9 2,719.5 3,577.4 104.4 531.4
or greater

Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture, 1981 and 2011

According to the 2011 Census of Agriculture, the largest proportion of

farms reporting pulses (25.5%) earned $250,000 to $499,999 in gross
farm receipts. There were 1,715 farms reporting one million dollars or
more of gross farm receipts. These million-dollar pulse farms represented
14.2% of farms reporting pulses and earned 53.2% of the total gross farm
receipts for farms reporting pulses. Three decades earlier, these million-
dollar farms made up less than 1% of all farms growing pulses. Smaller
farms earning less than $100,000 dominated in those days, accounting
for 54.7% of all farms reporting pulses

250
 Canada was the worldwide leader in production of lentils and dry peas in
2011. Canada produced over a third of the world’s lentils in 2011 (1.5
million tonnes). Canada had the largest amount of dry pea production
in tonnes in 2011, producing 2.1 million tonnes of dry peas, or 21.7%
of the total global production (Table 8).

In 2011, the value of pulses exported was $873.0 million for lentils, $1.1
billion for dry peas, $65.6 million for chickpeas, and $207.6 million for
dry beans. Canada exported pulses to 129 countries, but the main export
destinations for pulses were Turkey (for lentils and chickpeas), India and
China (for dry peas), and the United States (for dry beans).

A large part of pulses produced in Canada are intended for exports.

Exports of dry peas, lentils and chickpeas accounted for almost 40% of
the annual production (five-year average 2007-2011).
Source: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/96-325-x/2014001/article/14041-eng.htm

Table 8: Pulses contribution to global markets, 2011

Pulse variety Production Share of global total Global ranking

tonnes percent rank
Lentils 1,531,900 34.8 1st
Dry peas 2,115,600 21.7 1st
Chickpeas 90,800 0.8 9th
Dry beans 144,600 0.6 27th
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (consulted June 11, 2014)

251
 Price fixing and corporate corruption:
Cag report on corruption in pulse imports

Free trade is based on 2 assumptions. First, that it encourages countries to

improve their comparative advantage and specialize in what is appropriate to
their climate and socio-ecological endowments. A central assumption of free
trade is “comparative advantage”- that countries will produce what they are
good at producing. On this logic, India should be growing pulses for itself, and
also exporting to the world. However, India which has diverse climates, and
grows food throughout the year, often in 4 cropping seasons, is today importing
dal from Canada which was never a pulse growing country, and which due to
its cold climate, has a limited cropping season. Second, that it benefits the poor
consumer by lowering food prices.
Source: http://www.producer.com/2015/07/voracious-indian-demand-great-for-pulse-prices/

As the experience with pulse imports by India shows, both assumptions are false.
Every import of pulses has been justified by government as a means to lower
pulse prices. In Dec 2015 Union Food Minister of India Minister Ram Vilas
Paswan said.
“In a bid to keep the spiralling price of pulses under check by ensuring
adequate availability in the market, the Centre will step up its efforts to
expedite imports of pulses”
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/centre-will-expedite-pulses
import-paswan/article8043444.ece

Road Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari, told reporters: “The Cabinet

discussed about rising pulses’ prices and expressed concern about the
same. Prime Minister has directed to import pulses in large quantity to
keep domestic prices under check,”
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47612668.cms?utm
Lentil pod source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

252
 But prices keep going up with imports for 2 reasons. The first is that when a
country as large as India imports huge quantities, it makes international prices go
Vetchling pod

up. In April 2006, when India announced its intention to purchase 1.5 million
tonnes, international prices shot up considerably and till September 2007,
Government agencies could contract only for 2,54,000 tonnes pulses (Raj. 2007).

As the Indian traders recognize, the announcement by the Indian government to

contract large imports of pulses to counter the sharp spike in prices, will in fact
do the opposite. It will raise international rates and not help the country unless
the imported pulses are subsidised.
Source: http://bso.blackseagrainconference.com/en/2015/presentations/prs/F

The second reason is that big traders are speculating on the price of pulses,
hoarding the imported pulses to artificially drive up prices. This was pointed out
by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and has been confirmed
by the India Today group.
Source: http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Public_Folder/PAC_Reports/Civil/82nd%20report.pdf
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3377979/Tax-department-raids-Delhi-
Mumbai-bust-price-manipulation-dal-racket.html

Major trading houses are accused of working as a cartel, illegally holding stock,
delaying imports, amplifying scarcity, manipulating prices. Importers and traders
were illegally maintaining two kinds of records, one official and another illicit,
for all trades and transactions.
As Times of India reports: “This is how rigging takes place, explain trade
sources. A select group of bigger players gather intelligence about the
crop output in the beginning of the season. On that basis, the rates are
polled again from a select group of suppliers. The prices are inflated and
deliberately the lower quotations are weeded out. As futures contracts are
introduced in a commodity exchange’s system, the same higher rates are
used. As the volume grows, the cartel can establish a benchmark price

253
 at the desired level. Since the future market depends on spot rates, the
cartel corners a part of stock in the physical market at the same higher
rates. This happens a few days before the settlement date of the futures
contracts. This helps in matching the spot and future prices. Since last
minute cornering of physical stock increases spot rates, the artificially
jacked up future prices are maintained, explained a trader.”
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/I-T-officials-raid-traders-to-probe-
chana-price-rigging/articleshow/50373558.cms

30 December 15: The Intelligence agencies have warned the government

about how the cartels are buying pulses at a higher price in Canada and
hoarding to drive prices up.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cartel-hoarding-dal-stocks-abroad-to-jack
up-prices-IB/articleshow/50725245.cms

When staples like dal become commodities for speculation, prices rise. In fact,
every time there is a crisis in food sector, this becomes an opportunity in the
global casino of speculation on food. Agribusiness has a history of price fixing to
increase its superprofits.

As the Business Week of Oct 23, 2000 states:

Price fixing, an ugly issue that let to recently stiffened jail terms for a couple of
former ADM executives, is far easier when fewer players are in the business. For
smaller players, the result of reduced competition could be higher costs for feed
and supplies and, arguably, lower prices for their goods.
Source: Yoked to Death: Globalisation and Corporate Control of Agriculture by Vandan Shiva, RFSTE

India, which consumes nearly 22 million tonnes of pulses annually, sources yellow
peas and lentils mainly from Canada and the United States
Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/indian-drought-bonanza-for-
canadian-growers-of-pulses/article7761440.ece
http://www.livemint.com/Money/53oBT8PZiZzJZOFVZiboGN/Global-pulses-prices-climb-on
Indian-imports.html

254
There is a gap between demand and production ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 million
tonnes. With stagnant area under cultivation and production, India has permitted
unrestricted imports of pulses with low duties for about 20 years now. India is
now the world’s largest pulses importer.

During 2012-13, about $2.3 billion (4.1 metric tonnes) was imported. In the
following year, it was $1.7 billion for 3.05 metric tonnes of import. Between
April and August, the first five months of the 2014-2015 financial year, import
amounted to $0.96 billion (1.07 metric tonnes), a rise of 18.2 per cent in value
terms over the previous year (IIPR,2011).

For the year 2015-2016, imports of pulses were supposed to rise to 5.5 million
tonnes costing India $4.5 billion, versus the $2.6 billion spent to import 4.5
million tonnes in the year ended March 2015.

The total demand of pulses is over 22-23 million tonnes projected to go up to

30 million tonnes by 2030. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra,
between themselves, grow close to half of the total output. Until recently with
domestic production stagnating at 13-14 tonnes,domestic production was not
meeting this gap. The gap could be met by increasing pulse production or
through imports. The government chose the import route, but imports rarely
went beyond 2 million tonnes. However in 2015 the imports had jumped to 5
million.And this is happening at a time when domestic production increased to
18 million tonnes. The import drive is clearly not need based, but pushed by
agribusiness corporate interests who stand to profit from speculation.

At an estimate, in two years, the country consumed an aggregate quantity of

about 35 million tones of various pulses, domestic or imported, the total value of
which was an estimated Rs. 1.4 lakh crore, assuming an average wholesale price
of Rs. 4000/quintal or Rs. 40 per Kg. At the retail level, however, consumer paid
a staggering of Rs. 2.1 lakh crore for the same quantity, assuming a conservative

255
 price of Rs. 60 per Kg. easily a profit margin of 50%. Allowing for 25% to cover
distribution expenses overhead and other expenses, additional profits made at the
retail level amounts to Rs. 35,000 crores (Business Line 2010).

With soaring prices, pulses are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the
common man in the country. The price elasticity of demand for pulses is high.
Higher prices lead to demand compression in the domestic market. So, the
slower growth in consumption in the country does not seem to be the result of
real weakness in demand, but due to high price driven demand compression at
the consumers’ end.

The analysis of wholesale and retail prices trends clearly brings out the fact that
there was a substantial and widening gap between wholesale and retail price of
arhar, masur, moong and urad dal for the period from 2006-11. In other words,
the retail prices of pulses increased at a much faster rate than the corresponding
wholesale prices. Even though the designated agencies imported pulses on
Government account, the retail prices kept on increasing.

A study by Multi-Commodity Exchange in 2007 shows that the consumer in

Mumbai paid Rs. 3,800 a quintal, while the farmer got only Rs. 2,250. In the
case of urad, the consumer paid Rs. 5,600 a quintal, the farmer was paid Rs.
3,000 (Subramani, 2007). The retail price of pigeon pea in most major markets
went as high as Rs. 120/- kg in 2010-11 (Roy & Joshi, 2014).

The retail prices of pulses increased at a much faster rate than the corresponding
wholesale prices during the period 2006-11. This growing divergence between
wholesale and retail prices pointed towards increasing control of the market
Lathyrus tingitanus

by private traders. The divergence continued, despite the imports of pulses by

designated agencies on Government account under two schemes viz. the 15 per
cent subsidy scheme and the scheme for distribution of pulses through the Public
Distribution System.

256
 In view of the demand and supply, Government launched two schemes, one in
Vigna bean

May 2006 and the other in November 2008 for import and distribution of pulses.

(i) 15 per cent subsidy scheme

The scheme introduced in May 2006, a subsidy scheme, originally envisaged
that National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED)
would import pulses, subject to reimbursement of losses upto 15% of the
landed cost. Later on Metals and Mineral Trading Corporation (MMTC), State
Trading Corporation (STC) and PEC were also added as designated agencies for
import of pulses. Upto half of the targeted quantity to be imported was to be
yellow peas. Ministry of Consumer Affairs was the nodal agency. The scheme
was extended year after year till 31st March 2011

(ii) Scheme of distribution of imported pulses through PDS

In November 2008, Government introduced another scheme for import of pulses
for distribution through PDS, at an over all subsidy of Rs.10/kg. The scheme was
extended till 31st March 2012.The pulses were to be imported upto four lakh
tonnes with a subsidy of Rs.400 crores. The maximum quantity distributed was
one kg per family, primarily restricted to BPL families.

The Audit by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of pulse imports

Audit by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that Ministry of
Consumer Affairs did not assess the requirement of pulses in the country in
order to calculate the correct amounts needed to be imported. Targets for
imports were, therefore, set without adequate data on domestic consumption of
pulses. There were significant shortfalls by the importing agencies in the actual
imports vis-a-vis the targets. Delays in clearance of imported pulses at the ports
led to an avoidable expenditure. These delays also had the effect of further
delaying the arrival of imported pulses into the market, leading to failure in
arresting their rising prices.

257
 In the absence of a proper distribution plan, the importing agencies disposed
off the pulses through the normal process of tendering. The tender conditions,
with their high minimum bid quantities and earnest money deposits ensured that
basically large private players, who were also major players in the pulses market,
would submit the bids, thus restricting the channels of distribution of imported
pulses and keeping most of the smaller parties out of the loop. The prices
offered by the bidders were substantially lower than the import prices paid by
the agencies as well as the prevailing wholesale prices, pointing towards possible
cartelisation. Table 9 shows the losses suffered by importing agencies

Pulses imported by the designated agencies were thus sold by them at

substantial losses, after considerable delays. The pulses sold were not lifted by
the private buyers on time, as a result of which, their availability in the market
was restricted for long periods.

Table 9: Losses suffered by importing agencies.

[Profit/(-)Loss, Rs. in crore]

Year STC MMTC PEC NAFED TOTAL

2006-07 0.17 0.00 0.02 -5.50 -5.31
2007-08 17.21 10.73 -17.15 -28.09 -17.30
2008-09 -208.81 24.32 -316.28 -52.70 -553.47
2009-10 -16.17 -205.21 -57.14 -177.20 -455.72
2010-11 -25.23 -38.34 -82.17 -23.78 -169.52
Total -232.83 -208.50 -472.72 -287.27 -1201.32
Source: CAG Audit

The CAG Audit observed that of the total losses of Rs. 1201.32 crore incurred
Vigna bean

by the implementing agencies, Rs. 897.37 crore (75 per cent) was on account of
yellow peas alone. (Table 10) The main reason for the huge losses on disposal
of yellow peas was that the agencies imported 6.26 lakh tonnes of yellow peas

258
 at rates ranging from Rs. 15182 to Rs. 28388 per tonne. The agencies could
sell only 0.87 lakh tonne during the year 2008-09, leaving a large balance stock
of 5.39 lakh tonnes which had to be sold at far lower rates ranging from Rs.
10637 to Rs. 17680 per tonnes during 2009-10, to private parties.

Table 10: Losses suffered by importing agencies on account of yellow peas

vis-a-vis other pulses during 2006-11
[Profit/(-)Loss, Rs. in crore]

Agencies Yellow Peas Other Pulses Total

STC -129.39 -103.44 -232.83
MMTC -129.10 -79.40 -208.50
PEC -389.00 -83.72 -472.72
NAFED -249.88 -37.39 -287.27
Total -897.37 -303.95 -1201.32

Source: CAG Audit

Regarding the import of yellow peas this is what the CAG observes:

“Without taking into consideration the food patterns, the Government in

2007 imported yellow peas. When the peas found no takers, they were
sold after prolonged delays, at very low rates, with heavy losses to the
importing agencies.

The MoCA and F&PD decided in 2008 that the agencies need not go for
further contracts of yellow peas, but the Union Cabinet in 2009 decided
to allow the agencies to import these. The agencies continued to import
even when they had huge unsold stocks, resulting in a loss of Rs. 897.37
crore, 75 per cent of the total loss of Rs. 1,201.32 crore.”
Source: http://www.infodriveindia.com/india-import-data/yellow-peas-import-data.aspx
Lathyrus tingitanus

259
Losses in import and sale of yellow peas
The CAG analysis clearly shows that in the importation of yellow pea the implementing
agencies did not take into consideration food preferences and earlier losses due to
unsold stock balances.
Inspite of the CAG warning on the quality of pulse imports and cartelisation of
traders, the government has continued to import yellow pea.
Imported yellow pea was thus sold by the agencies after considerable delays
and heavy losses. The Government directed the agencies to continue importing
the pulses in spite of the fact that the agencies had huge unsold stock balances.
This showed flawed judgment and lack of co-ordination on the part of the
Government.
The outcome of these deficiencies was a huge loss of Rs. 897.37 crore suffered
in the import of yellow peas by the importing agencies which amounted to
75 per cent of the total loss of Rs. 1201.32 crore, suffered in the process of
implementation of the 15 per cent subsidy scheme.

CAG found that the second scheme for distribution of pulses to BPL households
through PDS was launched without any evaluation of the first scheme. In fact,
the second scheme was launched even as huge unsold stocks of yellow peas
were lying under 15 per cent subsidy scheme.

Under the second scheme during 2008- 09 agencies could import only 0.12 lakh
tonnes and distributed only 0.09 lakh tonnes. Even during 2009-10 agencies
imported only 2.33 lakh tonnes and distributed 2.18 lakh tonnes. Again during
2010-11, agencies could not import the required quantity of pulses.

Deviating from the trend in the Government of trashing CAG reports, the Food
and Civil Supplies Ministry had decided to take a serious view of the top
auditor’s report on the Rs. 1200- crore Pulses Scam (Jigeesh, 2012).

260
However, Government did not learn any lesson from the earlier two scheme
of pulses’ import. The Government again revived the blueprint for import of
one million tonnes to be distributed through PDS Under the new dispensation,
subsidy on imports has been enhanced from Rs10/kg to Rs 20/kg or 20,000/
tonne, equivalent to $ 195.50 to $385 tonne respectively (Narang, 2012).

Yellow peas or safed matar accounts for one out of every two bags of
pulses imported annually. Consumption has jumped 25% in the last five
years, with an 8% spurt in the last one year. As the CAG report clearly
points out, this is not the preferred dal of Indians. They are being forced
to eat it because instead of promoting the domestic production of the
diverse dals Indians eat, Government is importing yellow pea dal and
subsidizing it. Since the yellow pea is less nutritious than our dals, it is
contributing to a degradation of the Indian diet.
Source: http://www.infodriveindia.com/india-import-data/yellow-peas-import-data.aspx
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-08-02/news/27657478_1
yellow-peas-pec-and-nafed-palm-oil

With an artificially created dal crisis the government is importing and

producing fake i- dal made of soya flour coloured yellow, a yellow pea
dal, which is not tur, nor chana, but is being sold as a substitute for
both. Dal imports are sending a signal to our farmers to not grow dal.
This will aggravate the dal crisis and make our real dals more expensive.
Source: http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/indias-dal-increasingly-not-from-india/?_r=0

Not only are we loosing foreign exchange, we are loosing nutrition. Compared
to the 20-30% protein in our indigenous dals, yellow pea has only 7.75 %
protein, which translates into a deficiency. A problem of industrial agriculture
and “free trade” is that it erases quality and nutrition from food, and profits
for seed giants and grain trading agribusiness giants become the only criteria.
Malnutrition, hunger and poverty are built into the design of the industrial

261
globalized food system (Vandana Shiva, Hunger by Design in Making Peace with
the Earth, Women Unlimited 2012).

Tender conditions favouring large private buyers

The CAG Audit scrutinized the detailed records of the sales and the tender
process of four importing agencies at selected branch offices in Chennai, Kanpur,
Kolkata, Mumbai, Tuticorin and Visakhapatnam, relating to sale of 8.38 lakh MT
during 2006-11, which accounted for 31 per cent of the total sales of pulses
imported by these agencies. The scrutiny revealed that the tender conditions of
the agencies for sale of pulses stipulated minimum bid quantities which ranged
between 200 to 1000 MT and corresponding Earnest Money Deposits (EMDs)
which ranged between five to 30 per cent. The successful bidders were required
to lift the awarded quantities by remitting the entire payment within 15-90 days
from the dates of award.
The agencies justified fixing of high minimum bid quantities by stating that they
wished to ensure that only serious bidders participated in the tenders.
As a result of these bid conditions, 6.08 lakh MT, representing a massive 73 per
cent of the quantity of sales test-checked in audit was sold to just four private
parties (LMJ International as well as LMJ Overseas; R Piyarelall Import and
Exports Pvt Ltd / RP Foods Pvt Ltd9; Prime Impex and SRS Pvt. Ltd). As per the
information obtained from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, three of the
above-mentioned four buyer groups (except LMJ) were also amongst the top 10
importers of pulses in the country during this period.
“This points to cartelisation and hoarding,” said a CAG official.
While the CAG assessed the loss to the nation in terms of a financial audit
linked to waste and corruption related to pulse imports, a social, ecological, and
a food sovereignty audit shows how high the hidden costs of “free trade”
in food really are.

262
 Losses due to import of pulses
n Loss of foreign exchange for imports - During 2012-13, about $2.3 billion (4.1 metric
tonnes) was imported. (IIPR,2011)
n For the year 2015-2016, imports of pulses are supposed to rise to 5.5 million tonnes
costing India $4.5 billion.
n Losses due to waste and corruption according to CAG report Rs 1,200 crore for 2.2
million tonnes import in 2012
n For 5.5 million tonnes this translates into more than Rs 3000 crore in 2015 or $ 500
million
n Losses to people’s health and nutrition due to import of nutritionally inferior pulses is 1
million tonnes of protein
n Losses to Soil Health due to not growing nitrogen fixing pulses 1.1 billion kg of soil
nitrogen

Rejuvenating pulse sovereignty

The degeneration of our soils, our agriculture, our health through the dis-
appearance of our pulses is not an inevitability. Imports of inferior pulses such
as yellow dal, or proposals to grow toxic pulses such as GMOs and Kesari dal
are false solutions.
Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-12-15/news/69062159_1_genetically-
modified-seeds-niti-aayog-msp
http://www.radhamohansingh.com/master.php?pageid=56a0d393219c9

Over the last 3 decades Navdanya has conserved and rejuvenated the biodiversity
of our crops, including pulses, promoted biodiversity in our agriculture and
our food. By reintroducing pulse diversity the health of soils, the productivity of
our farms, the incomes of our farmers and the nutrition per acre for all people
have increased.

263
Sikkim
Table 11: Analysis of the yield from organic mixed cropping versus the yield
from conventional mono cropping in Kharif season in Sikkim.
Protein (kg) Carbohydrate (kg) Fat (kg) Energy (kcal)
Mixed Cropping
Maize (4 Qt) 44.4 264.8 14.4 13,68,000
Radish (2 Qt) 1.4 6.8 0.2 34,000
Mustard leaves 4.0 0.6 2.4 34,000
(saag) (1qt)
Peas (2 Qt) 14.4 31.8 0.2 1,86,000
Total (9 Qt.) 64.2 304.0 17.2 16,22,000
Mono Cropping
Maize (5 Qt.) 55.5 331.0 18.0 1,710,000
Total 55.5 331.0 18.0 1,710,000
Source: Navdanya, Biodiversity Based Organic Farming: New Paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety, 2006.

Rajasthan
Table 12: Comparative study on macronutrients produced in mono cropping
(pearl millet) versus mixed cropping (pearl millet, moth, sesame) per unit land
Protein (kg) Carbohydrate (kg) Fat (kg) Total energy (kcal)
Mixed cropping
Pearl Millet (9 qtl.) 104.4 607.5 4.5 32,49,000
Moth (3.5 qtl.) 82.6 197.75 3.85 11,55,000
Sesame (0.4 qtl.) 7.32 10.0 17.32 2,25,200
Total = 12.9 qtl. 194.32 815.25 25.67 46,29,200
Mono cropping
Pearl Millet (12 qtl.) 139.2 810.0 6.0 43,32,000
Total = 12 qtl. 139.2 810.0 6.0 43,32,000
Source: Navdanya, Biodiversity Based Organic Farming: New Paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety, 2006.

264
Uttarakhand
Table 13: Comparative study of macronutrients produced per acre farmland-
mixed cropping versus mono cropping.
Protein (kg) Carbohydrate (kg) Fat (kg) Total energy (kcal)
Mixed Cropping
Mandua = 3qt. 21.9 216.0 3.9 9,84,000
Jhangora = 2 qt. 12.4 131.0 4.4 6,14,000
Gahat = 4 qt. 88.0 228.8 2.0 12,84,000
Bhatt = 5 qt. 216.0 104.5 97.5 21,60,000
Total = 14 qt 338.3 680.3 107.8 50,42,000
Mono Cropping
Paddy = 12 qt. 90.0 920.4 12.0 41,52,000
Total = 12 qt. 90.0 920.4 12.0 41,52,000
Source: Navdanya, Biodiversity Based Organic Farming: New Paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety, 2006.

Navdanya measured total output on 200 farms in 4 ecosystems on the basis of

Biodiversity Based Productivity, not the misleading monoculture “yield” which
hides diversity of output. In order to provide a more comprehensible picture,
we took the average (arithmetic mean) of nutrients produced per acre farmland
from the above case studies. The sample mean of our report should be a fairly
good estimator of the population mean. The population in our case is the total
arable land in India. Hence, the average production of nutrients per acre of
farmland is a reasonably fair point estimator of the average production per acre
farmland on a national scale. Moreover, we have collected data from different
states ranging from an arid state, Rajasthan, to an organic state, Uttaranchal.
As a result the margin of error should be fairly low. The purpose of all the
statistic is to allow the reader a glimpse of the actual scenario, effect of two
forms of agriculture on a national level. The questions are how to maximize
nutrient production, how to minimize environmental risk, and how to ensure a
sustainable alternative to solve the national and global food crisis.

265
Table 14: Average production of macronutrients per acre farmland- organic
mixed cropping versus conventional mono cropping
Protein (kg) Carbohydrate (kg) Fat (kg) Total energy
(kcal)
Average production of nutrients 240 833 66 4,914,270
from organic mixed farming
Average production of nutrients 116 785 23 3,711,475
from conventional mono cropping

Source: Navdanya, Biodiversity Based Organic Farming: New Paradigm for Food Security and Food Safety, 2006.

According to the table, if we switch an acre of farmland from conventional mono-

cropping to organic mixed cropping, we shall be able to produce 124 kg of
protein more than earlier. The quality of mixed cropping protein is better than
that of monocropping protein. The organic mixed cropping protein is complete
because it provides all the essential amino acids- it is comparable to animal
protein. Vegetarian protein may be an inadequate source of all essential amino
acids individually. However, when vegetarian proteins are mixed, they become an
adequate source of all essential amino acids. For example, the protein in roti or
dal, individually, is incomplete because it does not contain all the essential amino
acids, but when roti and dal are consumed together, they become a complete
source of all essential amino acids. Hence, the protein produced in an acre of
farmland from organic mixed cropping is more complete than protein produced in
an acre from conventional mono cropping.

On an average, organic mixed cropping produces 124 kg of protein more than

conventional mono cropping, per acre farmland. 124 kg of protein is enough
to fulfil the protein requirement of 2000 adults for a day. According to Central
Water Commission, Govt. of India, total cultivable land (2003-04) in India is 183
M. Ha., which is approximately equal to 452202848 acres. If all of this land
is used for organic mixed cropping instead of conventional mono cropping, the
country shall produce 56073153 metric tons of protein more than that produced

266
earlier. This is enough to fulfil the protein requirement of 2.5 billion adults for
the entire year. A fact worthy of notice is that we have only taken the difference
of 124 kg protein per acre between organic mixed cropping and conventional
mono cropping. The additional amount of protein that we would produce by
switching from conventional agriculture to organic agriculture is sufficient to fulfil
the protein requirement of 2.5 billion adults for the entire year. If we consider
the entire amount of protein produced in the country through organic mixed
cropping, by projecting our sample average to the total cultivable land, we
would produce enough protein to fulfil the protein requirement of approximately
5 billion adults for the whole year. This is enough protein to feed our entire
population and to eradicate protein energy malnutrition from the planet.
Indigenous pulse production rejuvenates the seed sovereignty and food
sovereignty of farmers. This increases their incomes by reducing costs of
production and increasing the value of what they sell because it is of higher
nutritional and taste quality, and can be sold directly to consumers through fair
trade, unlike industrial commobities like soya which must be sold to industry as
raw material for animal feed and solvent extracted oil. The comparision of soya
production in India with small farmers producing indigenous kidney beans shows
how indigenous pulses are beneficial to small farmers

Indigenous pulses bring farmers higher income than soya

Kidney beans (rajma)
Navdanya started encouraging farmers to conserve local seeds and to promote
organic farming in the region. Before becoming member of Navdanya, the
farmers gave kidney beans to the local trader at the rate decided by him. Now
the group decides its rate collectively. The rate of kidney beans in the village
has gone up to Rs. 100/kg from Rs. 35/kg in a span of 12 years. Farmers are
empowered effficiently and are happy with organic farming and production that
is also going up by year. Diseases and pests are now quite rare and uncommon.

267
Table 15
Farmer: Mohan Singh
Name of the Crop: Rajma (Kidney beans)
Village Pokhri, Tehsil Chakrata, District Dehradun
Land area: 15 Nali (3000 sq. meter) 1 Nali = 200sq. Meter

Item Quantity Total (Rs.)

Costs for field preparation
Ploughing Cattle 2 2000
Seeds 50kg 4500
Irrigation Nil
Chemical Fertilizers Nil
Other Fertilizers (FYM etc.) 100qtl 7000*
Pesticides and weedicides Nil
Weeding 20 man days 4000*
Harvesting 10 man days 2000*
Threshing, winnowing etc. 5 man days 10000*
Total cost in Production 29500
Transportation and labour Cost 1000*
Other costs (if any?) Gunny bags (20) 400
Total expenditure Per Field 30900
Total Expenditure Per Hectare 102897
Total Production
Grains 1000kg @ Rs 95 95000
Straw 2000kg @ Rs 2 4000
Other (weeds) 1000 kg x 2 2000
Mandwa 100 x 15 1500
Chaulai 110 x 50 5500
Maize 80 x 20 1600
Other Straw 800 x 2 1600
Gross income Per Field Rs 111200
Net income Per Field
(Gross income- Total expenditure) Rs 80300
Gross Income Per Hectare Rs 370296
Net Income Per Hectare Rs 267399

*Source: Navdanya Wealth per Acre: A True Cost of Food Systems, 2014.

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Mandal, Saha, Ghosh, Hati, and Bandyopadhyay (2002) conducted a study to
examine energy requirement and energy input output relationship of soybean
based crop production. For the purpose of our case study, we will extract input
requirement, total cost of production, gross revenue, and net profit associated
with growing soybean from the above mentioned study, adjust these values for
inflation, and compare it with our own experience with organic farmers who
grow native kidney beans (rajma).

Table 16: A true cost study of food systems

Soybean

Type of input Amount of Input

Land preparation One summer ploughing with two ploughing with 35 Hp
tractor drawn cultivator
Fertilizer / Manure 5 Ton/Ha of farmyard manure, 30 Kg/Ha N, 60 Kg/Ha
P2O5, 30 Kg/Ha K2O
Sowing By tractor drawn seed drill with seed rate of 80 Kg/Ha
Weeding and thinning Manual labour
Irrigation Rainfed
Plant protection Chemical control by spraying phosphamidon 85%
EC at 0.02%
Harvesting Manual
Threshing By 35 Hp tractor driven thresher
Soy Bean Nominal Value Real Value (Adjusted For
(2000-01) In Inr Inflation Till 2013) In Inr
Gross Cost of Production Per Ha 10924.00 27949.70
Gross Return From Economic 7905.00 20225.42
Product Per Ha Gross Return From
By Products Per Ha 4138.00 10587.32
Total Return Per Ha 12043.00 30812.74
Net Profit 1119.00 2863.03

Source: Navdanya Wealth per Acre: A True Cost of Food Systems, 2014.

269
Let us Reclaim the Pulse of Life
Both the Health of Soil and the Health of People and Animals are calling for the
rejuvenation of the diversity of our pulses in agriculture and in our diets.

Pulses are an alternative to the soil destroying fossil fuel based, synthetic
fertilisers. The Diversity of pulses offer a healthy alternative to the health
destroying factory farmed meat, and to the expansion of GMO monocultures.

Healthy Soils. Healthy People

Let us Resolve to:

Grow Diversity. Eat Diversity
Grow Organic. Eat Organic
Grow Local. Eat local

The disappearance of diversity of beans and pulses from agriculture and

our diets has been driven by a monoculture paradigm focusing on a few
globally traded cereals. This has impoverished the soil, and our health.
We now need a paradigm shift from monocultures to diversity.

Let us bring back the diversity of cereals and pulses to our farms and
our food baskets. Biodiversity produces more when measured in terms
of Nutrition per Acre. “Yields” of monoculture commodities do not
accurately assess the total nutritional output of a farm. “Harvest
Index” only measures what leaves the farm. Crops and varieties
with high biomass, and lower harvest index produce more benefits,
return more nutrition to the soil, and secure the future of our food.
Higher “yields” of nutritionally empty commodities are in fact a recipe
Vigna catiang

270
for nutritional deficiencies. Transforming plants into mere commodities for the
market, at the cost of soil health, animal health, and people’s health, is a recipe
for desertification and disease.
Grow and eat open source, indigenous, native, heirloom varieties of pulses, rich
in diversity, nutrition and taste. Avoid nutritionally empty, chemically grown
pulses and patented GM soya and products derived from it.
Eat more pulses. Eat more
plant proteins. Eat less meat
Factory farming of animals for meat is the single biggest reason for expansion of
GMO monocultures and also a major contributor to climate change. By shifting
to a pulse based plant protein diet, we improve both our own health and the
health of the planet.
When we grow organic we let pulses fix nitrogen nonviolently in the soil, instead of
increasing dependence on synthetic fertilisers produced violently by heating fossil
fuels to 550°C. Chickpea can fix up to 140 kg nitrogen per hectare and pigeon-pea
can fix up to 200 kg nitrogen per hectare (source: http://www.rmsag.com.au/2015/nitrogen-
contribution-from-pulse-crops/ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e00.pd).

Navdanya studies show that organic farming has increased nitrogen content of soil
between 44 to 144%.
Synthetic fertilisers are part of a fossil agriculture and food system which
accounts for 50% greenhouse gas emissions leading to climate change.
Nitrogen fertilisers lead to emissions of nitrogen oxide which is a greenhouse
gas that contributes 300 times more to global warming than carbon dioxide.
They also increase water demand in Agriculture and are responsible for “dead
zones” in oceans and waterways. Chemical fertilisers are leading to a decline
in productivity because they are destroying soil health. During three and half
decades fertliser productivity has declined from 48 kg food grains/kg NPK

271
 fertilizer in 1970-71 to 10 kg food grains/kg NPK fertilizer in 2007-08 (Aulakh,
M.S. and Benbi, D.K. 2008; Subba Rao, A. and Reddy, K.S. 2009).
Integrating pulses in organic agriculture is the only sustainable path to food and
nutritional security. Eating organic pulses is an alternative to GM soya, and to
the degradation of our diet by eating inferior globally traded pulses, such as the
yellow pea, which have a mere 7.5% protein compared to the indigenous pulse
diversity which has between 20-30% protein, and other nutrients in addition.
Pulses can play a key role in rejuvenating local, ecological agriculture and local
diversified food economies. Farmers will grow diversity of pulses locally when
eaters eat local biodiversity. Become a co-producer and support farmers to
integrate pulses in their farming systems. Create local food systems linking farmers
as producers who grow real pulses to eaters as co-producers who eat real food.
Reduce dependence on long distance imports of foods from unknown sources,
produced and processed with heavy cost to the planet, small farmers and our
health, costs that are hidden from us. We have a right to know what we are
eating – where it comes from, who produced it,how it was produced, what is in
it. And the only way we can know what we eat is by eating local.
Know your food. Know your farmer. Become a Food Smart Citizen.
Join Navdanya’s Annapurna movement.

Reclaim Food Freedom. Reclaim the Pulse of Life.

Join the Dal Satyagraha

Boycott imported oilseeds, pulses and GMO products which are nutritionally
Pigeon pea
deficient, and chemically and industrially grown. Demand that Government stops
the imports and the subsidies that are making inferior food products artificially
cheap, robbing Earth Citizens of health and nutrition, taste and quality, as well as
the joy of eating.

272
References
Websites consulted
academics. hmilton.edu/foodforthought/beans+legumes
asianagrihistory
www.faculty.ucr.edu/legumes(carob)
Culinary History of Kentucky by Fiona Yang - Brown
Feedipedia
Wikipedia
whfoods.com
Waynes Word
www.lablab.org
www.clovegarden.com
www.kew.org
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications
www.hort.purdue.edu

Books & articles

the new whole foods encyclopaedia: by Rebecca Wood; Penguin, Orkara, 1999
The Seed Keepers, Navdanya 1995
Biology and Breeding of Food Legumes ed: by Aditya Pratap and Jitendra Kumar

273
Pulses ed. by Guriqbal Singh, Harbhajan Singh Sekhon, Jaspinder Singh Kolar;
published by Geeta Somani Agrotech Publishing Academy
Nutritive Value of Indian Foods by C.Gopalan, B.V. Rama Sastri & B.S. Narasinga
Rao, Y.G Deosthale & K.C. Pant; published by National Institute of Nutrition
Health Per Acre: Organic Solutions to Hunger & Malnutrition by Dr. Vandana
Shiva with Dr.Vaibhav Singh, Navdanya 2012
Wealth Per Acre, Dr. Vandana Shiva with Dr.Vaibhav Singh, published
by Natraj, 2015
The Origins of Chinese Civilization, David N Keightley
The Soybean Plant: Botany,Nomenclature, Taxonomy, Domestication, and
Dissemination by William Shurtlieff and Akiko Aoyogi
Policy Failures Trigger Huge Pulse Imports, Raj, Jaya 2007, 14-20 October, 2007,
Sahara Times, New Delhi.
Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan; How 10 Years of and Kunwar Jalees WTO Have Robbed
India of Lives and Livelihoods, Shiva, Vandana 2006, Research Foundation for
Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi
Kamal Ki Dal, Rangatia, Yoga 2007, Pioneer, New Delhi.
Centre Chalks Out Plan to Increase Pulse Acreage, Economic Times 2007,
Economic Times, New Delhi.
Dals – The Protein Store Houses, Navdanya 2007, A Pamphlet by Navdanya,
A-60, Hauz Khas, New Delhi.
Good Options For Rain Fed Areas, Ali, Masood 2007, Hindu and Shiv Kumar
Survey Of Indian Agriculture, 2007, Chennai.

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 Pulse of Life
A s an offering to The Year of the Pulses and to commemorate the 30th anniversary year of
Navdanya, we bring you Pulse of Life, the Rich Biodiversity of Edible Legumes. The book is
our response to the spread of monocultures through chemical, industrial and unfair farming
systems, which have destroyed our food systems, our farmers, and not in the least, our health. It
is also an attempt to bring back to memory and reconnect with the amazing diversity of pulses
and other legumes Mother Earth has so generously provided for us. As in the earlier titles of our
series The Biodiversity and Food Heritage of India, here too we connect the Seed to the Table,
focusing on the cornucopia of edible legumes existing across the world and the equally rich ways
of processing, cooking and ecological usages they have given rise to. We have also touched upon
the threats to this immensely rich gift of Nature. 2016 – INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES
Pulses and other legumes, which can both heal our body and our planet as well as provide
nutrition security in times of climate change, deserve to be put centre stage.

Earlier titles in our series include:

• Akshat – Rice

• Kanak – Wheat

• Dalhan – Pulses

• Masale – Spices

• Bhoole Bisre Anaj – Forgotten Foods

• Sherbats – Indigenous Cold Drinks

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