The potential of soybean

A former American president, Harry Truman, called soybean the miracle crop. With nearly 42% protein and 20% oil on a dry weight basis, soybean is the most energy-packed major crop in the world. Soybean has nearly five times more protein than rice and nearly twice the protein of meat and most pulses. It is probably the most affordable and healthy solution for solving the chronic protein deficiency in the Bangladeshi diet. Because of the high-energy packed in the 20% soybean oil, it can provide much needed fat energy to the millions of manual labourers and farmers in Bangladesh. Compared to artery clogging saturated animal fats, soybean fat is high in unsaturated fat and, thus, a much healthier source of fat for human consumption.
Worldwide, soybean is:
-The number one edible oil and protein source for poultry, fisheries and livestock farms;
-A major protein source in human food for countries in east Asia, including Japan, Korea and China;
-A health food against many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, menopausal symptoms, etc.;
-And an industrial raw material for bio-diesel, plastics, etc.
The end uses for soybean are growing very fast as are the demands for it. The high demand for soybean worldwide is driving prices almost out of reach of developing countries like Bangladesh. Almost all soybeans used in Bangladesh are imported. Due to limited lands available for the entire agriculture, Bangladesh may not be able to grow all the soybeans it may need, but it will be possible to greatly increase production in the country in a matter of years. Bangladesh needs to focus on the production and utilisation of food-type soybean. It is not the "silver" bullet, but it can be a big part of the solution to the nutritional and health problems that Bangladesh faces today.
As eluded above, soybean can play a very important role in healthy diets for patients with chronic diseases. Diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis and other preventable diseases among people in Bangladesh are happening at an alarming rate. Most of these diseases are preventable through proper diet and lifestyle changes. Also, the profound effect of malnutrition on Bangladeshis is well known. The shortage of protein in the Bangladeshi diet is playing a negative role on the physical and mental development of the next generation, i.e. our children. Fortunately, soybean can be an affordable and healthy source of much needed protein in Bangladeshi diet.
My recent visits to South Korea granted me a first-hand experience about the extensive use of soybean and soybean products in Korean diets. Korean people consume several soybean food products every day. The same is true for other oriental countries, including Japan, Taiwan and China. It is well known that the longevity of people in these countries is among the highest in the world and these people have the least occurrences of the chronic diseases mentioned above. Incidentally, they also have the lowest cases of various cancers compared to most developed countries in the world.
Soybean uses the nitrogen from the air so there is little or no need to apply urea to its fields, and soybean gives off residual nitrogen for the crop that is planted after it. Nitrogen (Urea) is the most expensive input for crop production in Bangladesh. In 2008 alone the government subsidy for urea fertilisers was more than TK4000 crores. Soybean can fix up to 270 kg nitrogen per hectare from the air, much higher than other legume crops (58 to 157 kg per hectare) generally grown in Bangladesh. Also, use of a suitable legume crop in the cropping system is part of any sustainable cropping system. For example, in the USA, the most commonly used crop rotation includes growing corn followed by soybean followed by corn or wheat. The predominant crop rotation in Bangladesh is now rice followed by wheat followed by rice. A crop rotation that only includes cereal crops and excludes legumes are not sustainable in the long run, and can prove to be devastating for the long-term health and nutrients balance of crop lands. This is another compelling reason for growing soybean in Bangladesh.
The author hopes that policymakers, agriculturists, farmers and consumers of Bangladesh will consider the great potential of soybean for Bangladesh and act accordingly to make the best use of soybean in Bangladesh. The government will need to allocate necessary funds and human resources for vigorous and sustained research activities on cultivation and utilisation of soybean in the country.

Dr. Rouf Mian is a research molecular geneticist at USDA-ARS in Wooster, Ohio, USA. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]