World Pulses Day 2024/
Nourishing soils to nourish people

World Pulses Day represents a unique opportunity to make some noise about pulses and this year is no exception! The 6th annual World Pulses Day will be celebrated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on February 10 as well as by many other people and organizations across the world. This year’s theme is ‘Nourishing soils to nourish people’, bringing attention to the incredible symbiosis between pulses and the earth they grow in and how this relationship can be a catalyst for developing sustainable agrifood systems.

Celebrate World Pulses Day with GPC

This year, GPC will be celebrating World Pulses Day on February 14, during our Pulses 24 convention, by hosting a press conference that will be streamed live to the whole pulses community before celebrating at the convention’s Welcome Reception. Speaking to press from across India at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi, President Iyengar will be joined by representatives from Nafed, Beans is How and more, to shine the spotlight on pulses on this historic day. 

If you’re not able to attend Pulses 24, you’ll be able to watch the press conference live on the GPC Instagram page, @globalpulsesgpc and experience all the action!

Follow us today and you’ll receive a notification when we start streaming live.

Nourishing soils to nourish people

Pulses and soils are inextricably linked, a mutually beneficial relationship that exemplifies sustainable agrifood systems. The theme of World Pulses Day 2024 opens the space to revisit this special bond, drawing attention to the rapidly declining state of our soils and the role pulses play in maintaining and restoring them. 

It’s no coincidence that 2016’s International Year of Pulses succeeded 2015’s International Year of Soils. Nor is it that the theme of the 2016 World Soil Day paid tribute to the symbiotic relationship between soil and pulses. Pulses and the earth they grow in are inexorably, vitally interdependent. And, as it turns out, the sustainability of our agrifood systems is heavily dependent on the good functioning of this relationship. 

Nine years after the International Year of Soils, the erosion and degradation of soils continues apace and continues to outstrip formation. Without the creation of new, healthy soil – a process that takes millennia – we are left with only one option: to protect the soils we already have. This can be done through conservation tillage, greener fertilizer, and increased biodiversity, but pulses will be a vital catalyst to make these changes a reality.