Chickpea: A post-rainy season legume crop for smallholder farmers of ESA
Chickpea: A Post-Rainy Season Legume
Crop for Smallholder Farmers of ESA
Sep/2010
Introduction
The area sown to chickpea in ESA has doubled in the past 30 years.Now at 420,000 ha this trend
suggests an increased economic benefit to farmers from growing chickpea and is expected to
continueconsideringtheincreasingdemandofchickpeaindomesticandinternationalmarkets
and increasing efforts to link farmers to markets in eastern and southern Africa (ESA).
As of 2001,the export of chickpea by Eastern Africa was negligible (<5%).Increase in production
and attractive price in the international market has led to substantial increase in the export of
chickpea during recent years. During 2002 to 2007, the export of chickpea from Eastern Africa
has ranged between 17 and 42%,with an average of 30%.This has provided farmers’with extra
income to buy essentials and send their kids to school.
Chickpea research and development in ESA
During the last couple of years chickpea research and development in ESA has been supported
by BMGF and IFAD under Tropical Legumes and Treasure Legumes Projects in Ethiopia, Kenya
andTanzania.Adoptionandseedreplacementratesofimprovedchickpeavarietiesareimproved
greatly by interventions in the form of farmer participatory varietal selection (FPVS),improved
seedsystems,producermarketinggroups,capacitybuildingatvariouslevels(farmers,extension
staff,technicians,students,and researchers).
Project target sites
Country State/zone District NARS partner
Ethiopia East and North
Shewa
Gimbichu,Minjar,
Shenkora
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural
Research (EIAR),Addis Ababa
Tanzania Lake Zone Mwanza,Shinyanga
Arumeru,Kondoa
Lake Zone Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (LZARDI),
Ukiriguru
Kenya Rift Valley Bomet,Nakuru Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
(KARI),Nairobi,Egerton University
Farmer-preferred varieties identified through FPVS
trials
Country/
location
Cultivars preferred by farmers
Desi type Kabuli type
Ethiopia Habru,Ejere,Arerti
Tanzania ICCV 00108,ICCV 97105 ICCV 92318,ICCV 00305
Kenya ICCV 97105,ICCV 00108 ICCV 95423,ICCV 00305
Varieties released or in the pipeline for release: Two chickpea varieties (ICCVs 00305,00108)
released and notified for cultivation in Kenya. Two more varieties (ICCVs 97105, 95423) are
identified for release.In Tanzania,four varieties entered in national performance trials.
The major success has been the dissemination of the large-seeded Kabuli types in ESA that
attract approximately double the price of the traditional Desi varieties.Initial screening efforts
were focused on Ethiopia as the largest chickpea producer in sub-Saharan Africa.The increased
market-valueofKabulichickpeahasattractedtheattentionoftheEthiopianGovernmentwhich
is aggressively promoting market-oriented agriculture.
ICRISAT has been working closely with breeders, agronomists and socio-economists from the
EIAR at Debre Zeit to evaluate the improved varieties, carry out detailed value-chain analyses,
and determine the factors affecting chickpea adoption. Similar success with Kabuli varieties
has been achieved in Kenya,Tanzania,Malawi and Mozambique.