India not growing enough pulses to meet nutritional needs of population

India faces a nutrition gap as pulses production and consumption fall short of dietary norms, even as cereals remain overconsumed across states

India does not produce enough pulses to meet the nutritional needs of its own population and, in the case of vegetables, dry fruits, milk, and protein foods, even what it does produce is failing to reach Indian dinner plates in adequate quantities, according to a working paper published in the National Statistics Office (NSO) journal Sarvekshana.

 

The study maps household food consumption data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23 against the dietary norms recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research's National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN).

 

The ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians, updated in May 2024, recommend that a vegetarian adult consume 85 grams of pulses per day or roughly 2.55 kg per month. What households across every single state and Union Territory actually consume falls dramatically short of that figure. In Manipur, rural households consume 0.35 kg per month. In Rajasthan, it is 0.46 kg. Even relatively better-performing states like Himachal Pradesh (1.33 kg) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1.09 kg) reach barely 40–43 per cent of the recommended intake.

 

 

The paper further posits that for pulses, India's production is not merely below what households currently eat; it is below what the country would need to produce if Indians began eating the recommended quantity. The domestic pulse production falls short of the quantity required to meet ICMR-recommended consumption norms.

 

Dry fruits present a similar supply-side problem. Production of dry fruits is also below the quantity needed to meet ICMR norms. Consumption across nearly all states is a fraction of the recommended 1.05 kg per person per month for vegetarians, with most rural states recording figures between 0.08 and 0.25 kg.

 

For vegetables, domestic vegetable production is approximately at the level required to meet ICMR-recommended consumption and yet household consumption falls universally short of the recommended 12 kg per person per month in every state and Union Territory, both in rural and urban areas.

 

The authors further flag that India's dairy production comfortably exceeds the quantity the ICMR recommends households consume nationally. Yet in the vast majority of states outside the northern belt, consumption is a fraction of the recommended 9 litres per person per month. Lakshadweep, Manipur, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh, and Assam—among others—record rural milk consumption below 2 litres per person per month.

 

On the other hand, India grows 288 million tonnes of cereals annually, well above both current household consumption and ICMR-recommended intake. Cereal consumption, in fact, exceeds ICMR recommendations in most states.

 

“Overall, there is a need to create greater awareness regarding the recommended quantities of different food groups as outlined in the report titled Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 issued by ICMR-NIN,” the paper concludes, pushing for wider public awareness.