Food Legumes in the Mediterranean Type of Environment and ICARDA’s Efforts in Improving their Productivity

Summary

Although a Mediterranean type climate, characterized by hot dry summers and cool wet winters, occurs in some parts of all the continents in the world, the largest single contiguous area with this type of climate is found in the region of West Asia and North Africa. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas has the responsibility for improving agricultural production in the dry areas of this region through crop improvement and farming system research and training. Faba bean, kabuli-chickpea, and lentil are the three major food legumes in the region. Their importance stems from the fact that they are an important source of high quality protein in the diets of the masses in the region, their byproducts are a valuable source of nutritious fodder for livestock, they reduce the dependence of the cropping system on nitrogenous fertilizers because of their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in association with rhizobia, and they have a general beneficial effect on the productivity of the land when introduced as a break crop in cereal dominated crop sequences. ICARDA has world-wide responsibility for research in improvement of faba bean and lentil and a joint responsibility, with the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), for the improvement of kabuli-type chickpea. Research efforts in the past have led to the development of genotypes and production techniques for all three crops that ensure increased and more stable productivity in the dry areas of the West Asia and North Africa region and in other countries having a Mediterranean type climate.