The Climate-Resilient Chickpea Innovation Lab emphasizes the crop-based traits of climate resilience and nutrition, focusing genetic improvement on the needs of small holder farmers in Ethiopia and India. In both countries chickpea is key to food security, providing a vital source of protein nutrition and income. In Ethiopia, smallholder farms dominate chickpea’s production acreage, with low and variable yields. Though India is both the largest producer and consumer of chickpea, yields are significantly below those in intensively managed systems. Year to year climatic variation is a key factor in variable yield and thus addressing climate resilience is a key priority. Moreover women’s labor dominates smallholder farming in Ethiopia and thus year‑to‑year variation in chickpea production has a disproportionate impact on rural women and their children. 

Lead Institute

University of California, Davis

Focus countries 

Ethiopia, India, Turkey