The Pulse Economy in the Mid-1990s: A Review of Global and Regional Developments

Abstract

The world pulse economy seems to have stagnated during the first half ofthe 1990s after going through a contraction during the 1970s caused bythe Green Revolution, and an expansion during the 1980s fuelled bychanges in the European Community's (EC) Common Agricultural Policies(CAP) which favored production of pulses for feed. In 1996 worldproduction stood at 57 million MT on 70.5 million ha with an averageyield of 809 kg/ha. However, recent vast cutbacks by the Commonwealth ofIndependent States (former USSR) and reductions in EC feed productionfollowing the 1992 CAP reforms in 1993 have been offset by a sustainedupward trend in Africa and a remarkable expansion in South Asia.Developing countries produce 71% of the world's pulses. India remainsthe largest pulse producer with 27% of world production.Trade in pulses has increased to 14% of world production. Thisencompasses all pulses and regions, suggesting that trade barriers arebeing reduced. Imports are still concentrated in Europe, while the mostimportant exporters are Canada, France, China, USA, and Myanmar. Thelatter has emerged as the largest supplier to South Asia, which itshares with inter-seasonal exports from Australia. Two-thirds of allpulses is used for food, mostly in developing countries, while about onequarter is used for feed, mostly in Europe, CIS, and Oceania(Australia), Since 1980-82, per capita food consumption of pulsesdeclined by 6% in developing countries where relative prices of pulseshave gone up while consumption of animal protein is increasing. Butdeveloped countries increased their food pulse consumption by 2.3%, iffrom a low base level.Price data for pulses remain sketchy. In India, the largest consumer,prices have increased relative to other foods, pushing pulse protein outof the average diet. Declining amounts of pulse protein in developingcountry diets do not necessarily indicate protein deficiencies, but to apaucity of technological progress in production relative to advances inproduction of animal protein such as milk and poultry, which havebrought down the relative prices of these foods. The same observation,coupled with a relatively strong negative price elasticity of demand forpulses, suggests that there is a significant unmet demand for pulses indeveloping countries which will not be satisfied at prevailing (high)prices.Yield variability remains a challenge to a constant, abundant supply atlow and stable prices. As most of the food pulses are produced andconsumed in developing countries, the limitations to higher and morestable yields need to be addressed, and multi-objective frameworks offarm families need to be taken into account when developing improvedcultivars and production methods.The future of the pulse economy depends on social, dietary, economic,environmental, and infrastructural factors some of which are predictablein the process of economic growth while others - such as governmentinterventions and scientific breakthroughs or competing crops or proteinsources - are highly unpredictable and could rapidly change the supplyor demand situation.