I ARCHIV - International Development Research Centre

Food Legume Production:
The Contribution of West Asia and
North Africa to the World Situation'
F. M. Hamawi
ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria
Biological and cultural factors have, over time, caused a very distinct pattern of pulse
production and consumption to develop throughout the world. Over 70% of the annual
world production is consumed by humans, largely in the form of dry seed. As a result of
their high protein content and relative inexpensiveness, legume grains have traditionally
made up a large part of the diets of the rural poor in developing countries. This situation
has earned pulse crops the title "poor man's meat," which perhaps effectively underlines
their vital importance to the populations of many of the countries of West Asia and North
Africa.
Between 1960 and 1975 there appears to have been a stagnation in world pulse
production at the level of about 43 million metric tonnes per year. This has been largely
attributed to a shift in consumer demand to other staple foods, such as wheat and rice, in
many developing countries, a move encouraged by the rapid strides made in cereal
improvement over the past decade, and the consequently increased economy of cereal
production in the developing world. In the past 2 years, however, there has been a
considerable upturn in pulse production throughout the world; annual production now
stands at around 48 million tonnes, and reflects a renewed interest in these important crops.
Against this general background this paper sets out to review the production situation
of the major grain legume crops in West Asia and North Africa, identify the changes that
have taken place over time, and analyze the changing relative contribution of the region to
world pulse production.
For the purposes of this study the region of West Asia and North Africa is taken as
including the 17 countries of direct concern to ICARDA, namely Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen A.R., Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus,
Syria, Iraq, Turkey, lrai, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Comparisons between the production
situations in these countries and between the region as against the world as a whole, are
made for the five major food legume crops (chick-pea, lentil, dry broad bean, dry bean,
and dry pea) over the periods 1966-70 (average) and 197 1-75 (average).
The Production Situation
The proportion of the world grain legume production generated by the region has
increased slightly from 6.3% in 1966-70 to 6.8% in 1971-75. This increase has been
composed of similarly small increases in each of the five major legume crops over the
period (Table 1).
Chick-pea
Although the average production of chick-peas in the world has decreased by 1 .4%
over this period, the level of production from the region has increased by approximately
1 All figures used in this paper are derived from FAO statistics and in some cases involve FAO
estimates, which may be subject to error