To understand this statement completely we need to understand following key points.

1. Overall consumption of food globally vs. available resources to produce the

required food
a. Its simple to understand that for growing population there is always growing demand.
However there is no substantial increase in resources to produce the required food and
serve growing demand.
2. Nutritional requirements for humans
a. Each human needs nutrition to grow and survive which they get from food they eat.
Depending nutritional value of eat food, they may need appropriate quantity of
particular food to fulfill overall nutritional requirements daily
3. Nutritional value of Pulses
a. If you compare all vegetarian food, per 100 g Nutritional value of Pulses is higher than
most food items. Have a look at below values for 100 g serving for various pulses.

Source:Nutritional Facts and Calorie Content in Pulses and Lentils

In addition to high nutritional value, there are other advantages of Pulses like easy to
preserve, easily mixed with other food items and all pulses can be made as good tasting
food.

The current composition of food consumed by most humans includes various food sources
which may not be ass effective source of nutrition as compared to Pulses. Hence you may
need less amount of pulses to fulfill your requirement as compared to most other food
sources.

Considering ever increasing demand and continuously depleting resources,

pulse could be introduced in daily diet to reduce demand for other food items
while ensuring the diet still remains balanced and healthy.
 So basically to conclude, pulses can help to effectively achieve sustainable food security for
longer run.

Pulses as important for food security, prospectus and challenges...

Pulses are leguminous plants and it's root harbors nitrogen fixing bacteria, so it increases
the soil nutrient levels, mainly nitrogen levels (which is artificially fed in the form of urea)

Even though, India comprises of mixed vegetarian and non-vegetarian population, at

different proportion within each state or region.

Although, Indians consumes non-veg in the form of egg, chicken, goat, fish, the per capita
meat consumption remains much lower than various developed countries.

This consumption pattern means that people still rely vegetarian foods as major source of
protein in their diet. Here, pulses play the most important role in the Indian food diet and
chain.

As pulses increases the soil nitrogen levels, it is helpful in crop rotation (changing crop from
pulses to paddy). By crop rotation, crops can be planted and cultivated around the year.

Moreover, pulses yield better prices for farmers, which is ultimately the best thing that
can happen for a producer or agriculturist.

So, pulses are important as a healthy protein source for general population and provides a
balance in agricultural production and supply.

Similarly from the carbon footprint point of view, leguminous plants yield high levels of
protein ranging from 25–50% with low carbon and water footprint (release of CO2 and
volume of freshwater used to produce pulses).

Whereas, the carbon and water footprint of beef, meat and chicken are comparably higher
than plants. Thus, pulses can be a sustainable solution for food security (nutritious food for
all) with prospectus for the farmers and the consumers.

Most important challenge in cultivating pulses or any crop is :

1. Reduction in the agricultural land area or decline in agricultural production (In India,
rising real estates and property has turned many agricultural lands into plots for sale
and barren lands).
2. fluctuation or changes in the climate and moisture levels
3. Importance given to other crops/cereals such as rice, wheat etc.,

Following are the benefits of pulse crops :

Environmental:

Nitrogen fixation: Pulse crops have a unique role to play in the global nitrogen cycle, as legumes and
pulse fix atmospheric nitrogen in soils

Conservation tillage: Changes in tillage practices have had a significant effect on shifting conventional
cereal-based cropping systems to more diversified crop rotations that utilize pulses

Productivity improvements over area expansion: Adding more crops, such as pulses, into rotations can
increase the efficiency of a production system,

Social

Social: Nutrition and disease: Helping to balance that trend, pulses and legumes are an important
contributor of micronutrient-rich intake, along with fruits and vegetables, if consumers make healthy
choices.

Nutrition and food security: Grain legumes added into the diet are found to contribute important
energy, proteins, minerals, and B vitamins.

Gender: Gender aspect of pulse production relates primarily to women’s involvement in pulse
production commercially, to feed families, and to benefit from income derived from pulse sales.

Economic

Reduced reliance on fossil fuels and lower fuel costs: Where conservation tillage practices have been
adopted, pulses and oilseeds have commonly been integrated into crop rotations.

Economic benefits of adding pulses to crop rotations: Significant research and development has gone
into improved pulse seed varieties. Less emphasis has been placed on the technical and financial
support to help farmers navigate changes in practices and trade-offs associated with adding pulse crops
into rotations (or different intercropping methods in Sub-Saharan Africa). Furthermore, though
investments in pulse crop breeding have been made in in different regions, the extent of investment is
still relatively small when compared to the scale of investments in corn, soybean and wheat.