The 5 big pluses of pulses

By Meshark Sikuku, and Jennifer Stevenson, Ripple Effect

These little edible seeds of the legume family are major heroes for us. They’re climate resilient, packed with nutritional value, growing them actively enriches our soils, and they’re easy to package, store and transport (a big plus if you don’t have a refrigerator – or the electricity to power it.)

One kilo of dried [EXAMPLE] packs as much protein as [MEAT COMPARISON], can be stored without refrigeration, and has a lower eco-cost to package and ship than the equivalent [HOW MANY TINS OF…]

Pulses are eaten all around the world, in everything from east African maharagwe to Egyptian falafel, Lebanese hummus, Indian dal, Chinese black bean sauce, Tex-Mex chilli and British baked beans. And this international popularity supports the valuable biodiversity of pulses: just in our home countries, Meshark can buy in his local Nairobi market “common beans”, green grams, cow peas, pigeon peas and Dolichos lablab, while Jennifer’s local supermarket sells [++ ]

1 They’re a power food

Pulses are key to establishing food security in the rural communities where we work, says Meshark. Traditional sources of protein are fish, meat and chicken, but for many households they are prohibitively expensive and families end up relying on cereals such as maize, wheat and rice which at least provide carbohydrates.

“In our work we see many agencies and seed companies promoting these cereals, which can be processed into a variety of products,” says Meshark.

“Our role is to encourage farmers to grow pulses as alternative food crops – they’re rich in proteins, fibre and important vitamins and minerals such as iron, zinc, folate, and magnesium which are especially vital for growing children, expectant women and the elderly.

“Ensuring that the families we work with have enough safe and nutritious food is our number one impact objective,” he says: “Everything else we do follows from that.”

“We measure our progress by a household dietary diversity score (HDDS), which looks at the level at which a family consumes diversity of food groups including proteins. measures the percentage of people eating six or more food types a day. In many communities where we start working there are very low HDDS because of the lack of protein, and that directs our project planning, including promoting pulses.”

2 They’re drought-tolerant

Legumes (the crops that produce the edible seeds which are pulses) are vital allies in a climate crisis. Pigeon peas, chickpeas, yellow beans and cowpeas are among the common species grown in the tropics for their climate resilience.

In Kenya, for example, farmers growing maize will now usually intercrop with beans and cowpeas. Beans are faster-maturing than maize and they can expect a crop in as little as three months, before a drought sets in. And cowpeas do well even with inadequate rain.

In Kenya the 46,000 households we work with have put half of their farms under intercropping with pulses.

3 They enrich the soil

Most crops deplete the soil of nutrients during their growth cycle, which is why restoring soil health is such an important part of our work and we train in farmers in making and using compost.

Leguminous plants get 60 percent of their nitrogen from the air and feed it down into the soil through their roots, where it can be shared by adjacent crops. They also have the capacity to mobilise phosphorous and other essential nutrients – minimising the need for adding chemical and mineral fertilisers.

In our holistic farm systems training we promote intercropping with leguminous crops which produce pulses for human consumption and crop residues that can be used as animal feed.

Animal manure can then be incorporated into compost and reintegrated back into the soil: maintaining soil nutrients and biodiversity and improving its structure, and boosting the yields and nutritious quality of crops.

4 They’re easy to store and transport

“In wealthy countries I think many of us have lost the habit of prep-soaking and cooking with dried beans and pulses,” says Jennifer Stevenson. “I have some jars of dried peas and lentils, but my cupboards are full of rehydrated tinned beans.”

In the countries where they’re grown, beans and pulses are commonly dried in the sun and then can be stored in sacks hanging above a fireplace to protect them from pests. Or pulses for seed may be mixed with natural pest repellents such as pepper or ash.

We do a lot of post-harvest work with farmers to ensure they minimise crop spoilage and gain maximum value from their hard work, sharing best-practice on cleaning, sorting, drying, winnowing and storage, as well as packaging and processing them into added-value products.

[JS1]@Meshark Sikuku does the definition of food security include a sufficiently varied diet?

Food Security includes balanced diet [MS2]

[JS3]@Meshark Sikuku Is it OK to add this?

This is very okay [MS4]

[JS5]@Meshark Sikuku is this correctly worded?

Yes, agreed [MS6]

[JS7]Correct word @Meshark Sikuku ??

We can use varieties [MS8]

[JS9]@Meshark Sikuku do we need to say what type of beans? (isn't it a rather broad term?)

Yes there are various varieties of beans, such as black beans, lima beans, black eyed beans etc, but I thought all are beans anyway providing same benefits to nutrition and soil. I see no need to specifying varieties. [MS10]