National Symposium on “Vegetable Legumes for Soil and Human Health”

12^th -14^th February, 2016, Varanasi

A National Symposium on “Vegetable Legumes for Soil and Human Health” was organized at ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi (12-14 February, 2016) to commemorate 2016 as “International Year of Pulses” .

Dr. N.K. Krishna Kumar DDG (Horticultural Sciences), inaugurated the symposium and emphasized for holistic approach in research on legume vegetables. He expressed concern over problems of pod borer and white fly in legumes and also emphasized to develop varieties resistant to viruses.

Dr Bijendra Singh, Director, IIVR, Varanasi highlighted the status of vegetable legumes in the country along with their importance for nutritional security and soil health.

Dr N.P. Singh, Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, stated the need for increasing production of legumes as per capita availability of legumes is only 37 g/day as against 54 g/day to fulfill the protein requirement.

Around 250 delegates from ICAR Institutes, State Agricultural Universities, State Departments and NGOs participated in the Symposium.

(Source: ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi)