The soybean story
Native to China, soybean or soyabean was introduced into the Indian subcontinent as far back as 1,000 AD. In the early 1960s, a major initiative to grow the oilseed was undertaken to make up a shortfall of pulses and strengthen food security in India. By the 1970s, soybean cultivation had gathered momentum in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, in their fallow lands. As edible oil imports reached highs in the 1980s, cultivating soyabean emerged as a lucrative opportunity for farmers in varied agroecologies.
Today, the oilseed legume that goes by the scientific name Glycine max has substituted cereals like rice in Madhya Pradesh and sorghum and pearl millet in Maharashtra. Today, soyabean is the third most important oilseed crop in India by area, production, and productivity. Even globally, soyabean is one of the most important oilseeds, accounting for 60% of the world's total edible oil production.
Why soyabean to address food security challenges in developing countries?
Well, the oil crop is nutrient-rich, with a 20% fat content and roughly 33 to 56% protein content. It is environmentally friendly, requires little care in its growth cycle, needs only a low to medium fertilizer input, and is resilient to mild drought. As such, it is suitable for many different agroecologies and can help mitigate nutritional deficiencies and food shortages in resource-constrained settings.
As a low-cost and high-quality food, soyabean is particularly important to food security in India. Through soyabean oil, soy milk, tofu, soy flour, and other soy-based proteins, the crop can help meet the nutritional demand in rural and urban household diets and ameliorate the incidence of malnutrition. Already, soyabean is cultivated in about 130 Indian districts, with large-scale expansion in the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Chhatisgarh. Since a lot of India's soyabean production is concentrated in a few districts, extending soyabean production and productivity is an important part of our country's agricultural agenda.
Global food security challenges
The soyabean story is an important testament to the role of edible oils and fats - rather, the oilseeds market in general - in addressing food security challenges globally.
I was extremely disheartened by a recent UNICEF report I read which revealed that roughly 181 million children under the age of five years are experiencing severe food poverty. They have inadequate access to a diverse, nutritious diet, which they need for their proper growth and development. Their diets largely comprise only breastmilk or starches; no or barely any vegetables, fruits, nutrient-dense foods. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the worst affected.
Even in India, a report published by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) paints a dire picture of food availability in coming years. Over the next 7 years, India's production of pulses, fruits, and edible oils is expected to be much less than projected demand. In the oilseeds market, particularly, production is expected to rise to about 35 to 40 million tonnes by 2030-2031. Even still, the demand-supply gap is estimated to expand to 6 million tonnes by that year.
Being part of a company in the oilseeds (and hence food) ecosystem, I'm deeply concerned by this large deficit in India's food balance sheet. Because of my work in product development and innovation, I've been interested in how India can not just increase the area under oilseed cultivation but also use technological breakthroughs to improve the productivity of existing cultivation and processing techniques.
The potential of the oilseeds market to fight nutrition and food security challenges
Despite having distinct chemical compositions, almost all oilseeds have some amount of protein, fat, sugar, starch, vitamins, minerals, and water. Generally, they have at least 15% fat and a protein content of anywhere between 6 and 45%.
Of course, the oil in oilseeds is important: soybean, peanut, rapeseed, sunflower seed, sesame seed, and others are common sources of edible oil. Additionally, they are also a natural source of plant protein. Promisingly, oilseed meal and proteins can be incorporated into foods to enhance their nutritional value and functional properties. This isn't a new idea: oilseed components have already been used as functional ingredients in bakery products, pasta, noodles, beverages, meat analogues, etc.
Around the world, there are over 200 kinds of oilseed crops and people consume the seeds themselves or products derived from them in their daily lives. Think beyond just sesame, sunflower seeds, groundnuts, and the like - even traditionally less commonly used seeds like chia and evening primrose are becoming more popular nowadays.
Overall, oilseeds and their products can help meet population demands for nutritious, healthy and sustainable food. Considering the health benefits of oilseed proteins and their derived peptides - like reduced risk of diabetes and hypertension, weight loss, etc. - they are an important piece of the puzzle of food security in India.
Plant-based edible oils and fats: An alternative to animal protein
Proteins derived from oilseeds are a low-cost and healthy substitute for animal protein, making it more feasible to achieve food security in India.
For years now, plant protein has been gaining in popularity. Now, as people demand more low-carb, high-protein diets, as they live longer lives with improved standards of living, and as they increasingly battle chronic diseases, I can't help but come back to oilseeds as the answer.
The increasing demand for protein has disrupted the demand-supply equilibrium when it comes to animal products. Moreover, as people become more aware and concerned about climate change, animal welfare, resource conservation, and health problems, there is no future for the food industry, for food security in India and other countries in the developing world, that does not include oilseeds.
The way forward
I firmly believe that the oilseeds market can and will revolutionise the way people get their nutrition.
Today, large proportions of protein-rich oilseed meal get redirected to the animal feed industry. Additionally, many oilseed proteins are incomplete proteins, with their functional properties not being comparable to those of animal proteins. Anti-nutrients, allergens and off-flavours only add to the woes of the oilseeds market and the oilseeds processing industry.
With existing techniques and future research, however, the industry can better understand the functional properties of oilseed proteins, eliminate unfavourable characteristics through protein modification, and address problems related to the processing and utilization of oilseeds. Such progress could expand the sources of dietary protein for human beings.
All of this goes to show that the oilseeds market has a crucial role to play in addressing food security challenges across developing countries. As a leading EPCC company in the oilseeds industry, we, at Kumar, are committed to making the vision of a food-secure India, a food-secure world, a reality.
Our customers, spread across 74 countries, share this vision with us. You can, too. Together, we can strengthen the oilseeds processing industry and the oilseeds market in support of a world in which no child or adult ever has to go hungry.
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