Regional opportunities for cool season food legumes for sustainable and enhanced food production, and crop diversification in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

Cool season food legumes (CSFL), mainly chickpea, lentil, khesari (lathyrus), faba bean, and pea, are important constituents of the diet of the people of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). In the traditional agricultural production systems of this ecoregion, these legumes were important crops. However, the area and production of CSFL in the IGP has decreased over the past two decades. Regional production is inadequate to meet regional demand, which increasingly has to be supplemented through imports. Large increase in demand of CSFL is projected in these countries over the coming decade. Major reasons for the decrease in area and production of CSFL arc preference of farmers to grow input-responsive, and more profitable rice and wheat crops and their reluctance to grow CSFL because of the uncertain yield that they can expect to harvest. Uncertainty in yield is associated with aberrant climatic conditions, and related pest and disease incidence. Technology and/or components of technology, effective in alleviating the major abiotic and biotic constraints to CSFL production, are readily available from the published literature. However, these have by and large not reached farmers. With widespread adoption of improved technologies, higher yields could more reliably be harvested. This would further motivate farmers to expand area under these crops because CSFL production would be perceived as less risk-prone and quite profitable. Additional benefits would accrue from greater sustainability of the production systems into which these crops are introduced. Institutional support (incentives and farmer-friendly policy) that would ensure dependable income to farmers will be necessary for rapid adoption of new technologies. It is suggested that short-term, focused research and development projects could quickly result in greater availability of these pulses and reverse the declining trends in area under these crops