Food Legume Improvement Program 1987

Abstract

The food legumes, faba bean, lentil and kabuli chickpea, form an important component of the rainfed farming systems of West Asia and North Africa (WANA) because of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, the key to sustainable wheat and barley production in an era of rising fertilizer costs. These crops serve as a 'break' in the cereal based farming systems and thus help in reducing or eliminating the cereal 'yield decline1 syndrome observed with continuous cereal cropping. The contrasting adaptations of these food legumes are complementary within the various cropping systems of WANA with faba bean, kabuli chickpea and lentil, in turn, grown under progressively lower rainfall regimes. This order also reflects their respective crop yields, both average and potential.