This World Pulses Day, we hear from Betty Kibaara, Director on the Food Team at The Rockefeller Foundation, the first philanthropic organization to join the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty. In this guest blog, Betty reflects on the importance of pulses in agrifood systems, their integration into school meal programmes and the recently launched School Meals Accelerator.

For decades, the global food system has increasingly narrowed its focus to a small number of staple crops. Today, just nine plant species account for 66% of total crop production worldwide. This growing dependence on cereals has come at the expense of traditional crops – including pulses and other legumes – which have sustained communities for thousands of years.

On World Pulses Day, the case for bringing pulses back to the centre of diets and food systems has never been stronger. Pulses are not only nutrient-rich foods. They are also powerful tools for building sustainable, resilient food systems. And one of the most effective ways to scale their impact is through national school meal programmes.

Why pulses matter

Pulses, including beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas, are dense in essential nutrients. They are rich in protein and provide key minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus, as well as fibre that supports healthy digestion and long-term wellbeing. Yet globally, pulse consumption remains low. Average bean intake worldwide was estimated at around 21 grams per person per day in 2016, even though some countries demonstrate what is possible. In Burundi, for example, intake averages closer to 80 grams per person per day.

At the same time, micronutrient deficiencies remain alarmingly widespread. Globally, deficiencies affect an estimated 56% of pre-school children and 69% of non-pregnant women of reproductive age. These nutrition gaps undermine health, learning outcomes, and long-term economic productivity, particularly for women and children.

Beyond nutrition, pulses play a critical role in sustainable agriculture. Legumes fix nitrogen into soil, improving fertility and reducing reliance on inorganic fertilizers. This is increasingly important in Africa, where fertilizer markets are fragmented, prices are rising, and global supply chains remain volatile. Pulses offer a practical, climate-smart solution: strengthening soil health, supporting ecosystem resilience, and reducing dependency on costly inputs for smallholder farmers.

School meals as a powerful tool for change

School meal programmes are one of the most effective tools governments have to improve child nutrition at scale. Integrating pulses into school meals offers a practical way to improve diet quality using foods that are affordable, culturally familiar, and locally produced.

When designed well, school meal programmes can also help reshape food systems. By linking school meals to local procurement, governments can create predictable markets for farmers, strengthen domestic supply chains, and support rural livelihoods. This is especially relevant for pulses, which are widely grown across Africa and well suited to smallholder production.

Beans, for example, occupy approximately 6.3 million hectares annually across Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, contributing an estimated USD 3.84 billion in production value at farm gate prices. School meal programmes can help turn this existing production into a reliable pathway for better nutrition while supporting local economies.

From country-level impact to global momentum

The Rockefeller Foundation’s portfolio includes several examples of how pulses can advance both nutrition and climate-smart food systems, particularly through biofortified crops. Biofortification increases the density of bioavailable micronutrients in staple foods, and is among the most cost-effective nutrition investments available. Evidence shows that for every USD invested, up to 17 USD in benefits can be gained.

One of the most promising examples is high-iron beans. Where they are consumed, high-iron beans can provide 75%–90% of daily iron requirements. In Rwanda, girls aged 18 to 27 saw improved iron status after consuming high-iron beans for 4.5 months. High-iron beans are also farmer-friendly: they mature quickly (60–90 days), cook faster, and can fix up to 50 kg of nitrogen per hectare. Their production can increase farm profits by an estimated $57–$78 per hectare.

There is a strong opportunity to integrate high-iron beans into national school meal programmes, particularly where enabling policies already exist, such as national nutrition action plans and food and nutrition security policies. To help unlock this potential, The Rockefeller Foundation supported AGRA to implement a three-year programme to increase production and consumption of high-iron and zinc beans in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania. The programme is designed to support disenfranchised farmers, with at least 40% being women. By the end of the project, 1.2 million schoolchildren are expected to benefit from consuming these beans.

This work is also part of growing global momentum. The Global Alliance School Meals Sprint has helped mobilize governments and partners to scale school meal programmes as a cornerstone of human capital development, while the Global School Meals Coalition has strengthened political commitment and collaboration to improve programme quality, reach, and sustainability.

Building on this momentum, we recently launched a major new initiative — the School Meals Accelerator — alongside the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the World Food Programme (WFP) to help governments reach an additional 100 million children with nutritious school meals by 2030.

The Accelerator launches with more than US$80 million from the four founding partners, with additional support from France and the Global Partnership for Education. It will connect countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean with technical assistance to strengthen and scale national school meal programmes. By pooling resources and expertise, we aim to unlock the full potential of school feeding programmes to combat hunger and poverty, while strengthening food and nutrition security worldwide.

This World Pulses Day, we are reminded that solutions to today’s biggest challenges do not always require new inventions. Sometimes, they require renewed investment in crops that are already proven, nutritious, affordable, climate-smart and culturally rooted. When pulses are integrated into school meals, the benefits extend far beyond the plate.

Pulses deliver nutrition for children, and resilience for the systems that feed them.

Learn more about School Meal Programmes

About the writer

Betty Kibaara is a Director on the Food Team at The Rockefeller Foundation, a founding member of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty. In her current role, Betty is responsible for leading the implementation of the Regenerative School Meal Initiative in Africa, which aims to improve child nutrition while supporting sustainable local food systems.