Higher prices for chickpeas and improved varieties are encouraging expanded plantings in 2024

Earlier this year, prices for chickpeas rose to more than $1000 a tonne, leading many regular chickpea growers to expand their plantings. Among them is Western Australian grower Neil Smith.

The boost in prices came after the Indian Government decided to suspend a tariff it had placed on the import of desi chickpeas. India is the world’s largest consumer of chickpeas and an important market for Australia. However, the tariff equated to about 66 per cent of the import price, according to Grain Trade Australia, which had effectively stalled trade with India.

“I would have planted an even larger area this year if I’d had more seed,” Neil says. He has increased his planting from 167 hectares in 2023 to almost 340ha this year.

Neil has been growing chickpeas intermittently on his Merredin property, ‘Ellanna Farm’, since the crop was first introduced to the west in 1995. The crop’s reputation for drought tolerance makes it an option for Merredin in Western Australia’s central grain growing region, where the average annual rainfall is about 325 millimetres.

Neil dry-sowed his crop in the last week of April. However, it was more than a month before there was any rain to germinate the seed. Neil plants his chickpeas as deeply as he can, at 60 to 80mm, which helps make use of any available soil moisture and counter the risk of dry conditions.

In the first six months of 2024, Neil had 105mm of rain, but 85mm of this fell before mid-March. With 32mm of rain in June, the crop finally emerged, and he remains hopeful for a decent crop.

He has planted CBA Captain after switching from PBA Striker two years ago. CBA Captain is an erect desi variety,  with early to mid-flowering and moderate  lodging resistance.

“This year I’ve planted 100 per cent  CBA Captain. It’s taller and it’s easier to harvest than PBA Striker. And the yields have averaged about 840 kilograms/ha,” Neil says.

Chickpeas are part of his 5500ha cropping program, which usually includes wheat, barley, canola and lupins. This year he has shelved the canola and barley, reduced the lupin plantings in favour of chickpeas and expanded plantings of the hard wheat Calibre and Kinsei noodle wheat.

In addition to providing a much-needed disease break for cereals, Neil says one great benefit of chickpeas is the kick it gives to protein in wheat crops the following year.

In 2022, when wheat protein levels dropped across the region, the protein in the wheat he grew after chickpeas held steady. In 2023, it achieved higher protein levels and better prices.

While Neil’s property has a mixture of soil types, he has been chasing a pulse suited to heavy clay country for many years. Acidity is a common issue. To support the development of suitable new varieties, he is hosting genetic trials as part of Chickpea Breeding Australia (CBA) for the second year this year.

CBA is a five-year, $30 million collaboration between GRDC and the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW DPIRD), based at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute and led by NSW DPIRD chickpea breeder Dr Kirsty Hobson.

It aims to breed varieties suited to more diverse conditions and encourage chickpea plantings in central and southern NSW  and WA, further from this pulse’s traditional base in northern NSW and Queensland.

“Disease beat us in the early years in WA. But we’ve got much better varieties now, we have a better handle on the agronomy, including control of grasses in-crop, and disease doesn’t seem to be so much of a problem,” Neil says. “For me, frost is the biggest issue.” He has had two frosted years in the past four.

“There can be plenty of pods on the plants, but there are no seeds in the pods. But speaking with researchers, they tell me cold tolerance is achievable,” he says.

As chair of the Merredin and Districts Farm Improvement Group, Neil believes  there is plenty that growers can learn by being directly involved in trials, such as those in the CBA initiative, which also supports industry development more broadly.

Given the success of CBA Captain, he is optimistic there will soon be new varieties even better suited to WA conditions, including tolerance to heavy and acid soils.

Neil is also a ‘Legume Leader’ for the Western Grain Legume Development and Extension project and is the subject of an upcoming GRDC podcast.

More information: GroundCover™ story – Partnerships galvanised by Chickpea Breeding Australia to deliver for WA