Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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    • Dear Participants,



      The first online discussion of the International year of Pulses (IYP) is coming to an end. As I said before, I am very happy for all interesting contributions made by the participants. We will present a summary of this discussion to the IYP Steering Committee and I am sure that your comments will help us improve the second half of the IYP.

      If you know or you are organizing an event on pulses, you can contact me and we can include information about the event in the website of the IYP ([email protected]). Since we will probably need some additional information about some of the topics discussed here, I will contact you through email personally.



      We will have another online discussion between October and November and we hope you can contribute with again.



      Teodardo Calles

    • Dear participants,

      I am very happy that members of this forum are not only expressing their opinions about pulses but are also sharing interesting material about pulses around the world. This information will help us to sharpen the focus of the second half of the 2016 International Year of Pulses.

      Participants to this discussion clearly agreed that pulses are of crucial importance for humankind. However, as expressed by Mr. Dhakal, this year should go beyond the raising awareness campaign and work towards helping the most vulnerable farmers. In order to achieve this, research and extension on underutilized pulse species, which in many cases are well adapted to local environmental conditions, should be promoted, as suggested by Prof. KV Peter, and traditional pulse-based dishes that are disappearing should be supported, as pointed out by Prof. Houngbo. In other words, we need to increase the number of pulses that can be grown in marginal areas as suggested by Prof. Howieson.

      However, I also believe it is of particular significance to make children realize the importance of pulses, as expressed by Ms. Yesudas; then they will be able to appreciate this kind of food and hopefully this will support dietary shift as noted by Dr. Boyle.

      This discussion will be ongoing until 19.06.2016 and therefore we would appreciate if you could keep contributing and extend this invitation to your colleagues.

      Teodardo Calles

      Technical expert for the online discussion