Portugal imports 77 thousand tons of pulses. But “could be self-sufficient”
The environmental association ZERO called, this Thursday, for a national strategy to increase the consumption of legumes.
Citing the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the environmental organization indicates that “Portugal increased the consumption decade of the dry years in the last to the per capita consumption values close to those registered in the mid-1990s, which is very positive”.
However, according to ZERO, “the degree of self-provision (national production compared to) of the main pulses is estimated by INE at only 18% for the year 2020.”
Despite recognizing that there has been, in the last 10 years, “an increase in cultivated area by more than 40%”, ZERO recalls, and critically, that “especially as more productive lands are used for animal feed and permanent crops”.
“The lands more capable of producing than the most consuming foods a period of 1.6% 10-year crop growth growth plus 1.6% equally to about two crops that suffice a 10-year crop growth increase 10 years 1.6% equally to two main crops, mainly cattle and pigs”, denounce environmentalists, based on INE figures.
“Livestock needs are still not being met, even so, soy and more than a million tons of corn”.
ZERO warns “Portugal depends on providing 77,000 tons of pulses, when it could be self-sufficient.”
Although although the Strategic Plan of Far below the Common Policy (PAC), on the other hand, Policy 20202020202020202021 of the Common Strategic Plan (PAC), “support associated with cultivation to the European Commission in the Final Contemporary”, “an associated support to the protection crop is below the very associated”, “the support is to the European Commission, far below the side, associated with the protection crop, which is what it is” , because “there is an area smaller than the area given for the main legumes declared in 2020” by the Agriculture and Fisheries Financing Institute at IFAP)bran and “there are no specifics for building value chains for promotion and production products”.
The association also points out that “associations can be central in achieving the goals of the Prado ao Prato Strategy, mainly the reduction of 20% in the use of fertilizers and in 50% of the loss of nutrients”, while “the livestock contribution in a significant impact on climate change, degradation of water resources and biodiversity.”
In this way, ZERO once again appeals to “the importance of a national strategy for legumes in a process of just ecological transition of the food system, recognizing the contribution that these plant species could have to environmental balance, human health and resilience of national agricultural systems.”
Nutritionists call for more awareness of consumption
For the Order of Nutritionists, it is necessary to bet on production “with eliminated techniques”, since “Portugal imports almost 80% of the legumes it consumes”.
But, more than a strategy for cultivation, it is necessary to make the population aware of the importance of legumes in our diet.
Alexandra Bento, chairman of the Ordem dos Nutricionistas, says that “the Portuguese consume half the amount of legumes they consume” and “sometimes more meat” from products of plant origin. “A trend that we have to reverse”, warns the chairman, “not only because of the nutritional value of the food, but also because of sustainability issues.”
The chairman guarantees that “over the last few decades, consumption has been going down”, contrary to what the ZERO association claims. Although, despite the increase in people who opt for plant-based diets, they are still in people at the same time in products of origin, they are not enough to face the increase in consumption of the legs, representing only “1.2% of the population”.
Alexandra Bento points out, however, that “the standard we should want for the Portuguese population is the Mediterranean diet.” Habits that should be developed at an “early age”.
And it’s not difficult, demystifies a nutritionist. “Just ensure that pulses should always be present in our soup.