Status, Growth and Variability of Chickpea Production in India

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an annual legume plant of the family Fabaceae. Chickpea is a rabi season crop. Based on their seed color and geographic distribution, chickpea biotypes are divided into two distinct groups as kabuli and desi. In India and Pakistan, the chickpea grown is Desi type, whereas Kabuli type chickpea is cultivated mainly in Turkey (Macar et al., 2017). Desi (originated from India) cultivars have small, wrinkled and dark coloured seeds and Kabuli (originated from Mediterranean and the Middle East) cultivars have large, smooth coated and white to cream coloured ( Purushothaman et al., 2014). Chickpea is considered to be unique because of its high level of protein content that accounts for almost 40% of its weight (Merga and Haji, 2019). Chickpea seeds are used for food and feed purposes, not only for excellent nutritional value but also for rich bioactive compound contents, such as phenolics and flavonoids (Magalhaes et al., 2017). As an annual grain legume, it is important not only for its highly nutritive value but also for its ability to maintain soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen (Dutta et al., 2022).
 
Chickpea is the largest produced food legume in South Asia and the third largest produced food legume globally, with a cultivated area of 14.84 million ha, prod-uction of 15.08 million tonnes and an average productivity of 1.01 tonnes ha^-1 in 2020. Chickpea is grown all over the world under varied environmental conditions. Asia dominated in chickpea production with 86 percent of regional contribution followed by Africa (4.70%), Americans (4.60%), Europe (1.90%) and Oceania (1.80%). Although this crop is cultivated in all the continents around the world, India (73.46%), Pakistan (3.30%), Russia (1.93%), United states of America (1.28%), Myanmar (3.19%), Australia (1.86%), Canada (1.42%), Turkey (4.18%), Mexico (0.83%) and Ethiopia (3.03%) are the major producing countries, together accounting for 94 percent of global production during 2020. India is the single largest producer of chickpea in the world, sharing for 73 percent (11.08 million tonnes) of the total production under chickpea (FAOSTAT, 2022).
 
Chickpea is an important source of protein for millions of people in the developing countries, particularly in South Asia, who are largely vegetarian either by choice or because of economic reasons. In addition to having high protein content (20-22%), chickpea is rich in fiber, minerals (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc) and β-carotene (Jukanti et al., 2012). It has been well recognized as a valuable source of protein for Indian vegetarian population. It is consumed as a dry pulse after cooking, germinating, soaking or as a green vegetable. It is also used for the preparation of various sweets and spicy dishes where either the split grains or flour (besan) are used besides dhal (Kumar et al., 2019).
 
Notwithstanding its distribution throughout the country, five states viz, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan together contributed more than 80 percent of total chickpea area in the country. Chickpea in India cultivated about 9.70 million ha producing 11.08 million tonnes of grains, contributing 35 and 42 per cent of the national pulses acreage and production, respectively.
 
The chickpea production in the country had gone up from 5.2 to 11.9 million tonnes during last five decades, registering a modest growth. During the same period, area increased from 7.83 to 9.99 million ha and productivity has steadily increased from 663 kg ha-1 to 1192 kg ha^-1. Average yield of some of the improved chickpea varieties reported by Anonymous (2023) were like GJG 0809 (16q ha^-1), GNG 1958 (26.8 q ha^-1), CSJ 515 (24 q ha^-1) and Raj Vijay gram 201 (JSC 40) (15-20 q ha^-1). As we can see that the national productivity was much lower than the Average yield of high yielding varieties of chickpea in our country. So, it becomes necessary to know the reasons for this yield gap. In present study, trend and variability in area, production and productivity was estimated in all the major states as well as at country level. The study was under taken during 2021-22 and 2022-23 at CCS HAU Hisar, Haryana with the objectives to analyze the growth and instability in area, production and productivity of chickpea.

The chickpea growing states were selected contributing at least 80 per cent of share with respect to area during 2020-21. As per the above criteria, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were selected. To study temporal variations in chickpea production, the study period was divided into the following five periods: overall study period (1970-71 to 2020-21) was divided into five sub-periods, as period-I (1970-71 to 1979-80), period-II (1980-81 to 1989-90), period-III (1990-91 to 1999-2000), period-IV (2000-01 to 2009-10) and period-V (2010-11 to 2019-20). To study the spatial movement of chickpea cultivation over time, the states were grouped into three zones based on their geographical location. The southern zone includes Karnataka while the western zone includes Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The central zone had only two states, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Also, the states which were bifurcated after 1970-71 were merged with the parent states. Hence, area and production of Chhattisgarh were combined with Madhya Pradesh.
 
Breusch-Godfrey test for Autocorrelation
 
A time series is a sequence of data points that occur in successive order over some period of time. Data used for study is also time series data and this data could be autocorrected. So, to know that about autocorrelation of data Breusch–Godfrey test was used in STATA. The Breusch-Godfrey test results indicate no evidence of autocorrelation in the residuals of chickpea data.
 
Growth rate
 
Growth rates refer to the percentage change of a specific variable within a specific time period. Growth rates can be beneficial in assessing a variables performance and predicting future performance. CAGR is a widely used method due to its simplicity and flexibility. The functional form is:
   
Where:
Yt = Area, production and productivity of pulses in the year t.
a = Intercept.
b = Regression coefficient.
t = Time variable.

The equation (1) was transformed into log-linear and written as:
   
Equation (2) was estimated by using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique.
The compound growth rate (r) was then estimated by using the equation (3)
   
Where:
r =  Estimated compound growth rate per annum in percentage.
b = Antilog of regression coefficient value.
 
Instability index
 
Instability analysis represents the uncertainty, with the help of indicators like Coefficient of variation, standard deviation and instability index, etc. Instability analysis in the area, production and productivity of chickpea was studied using CDI (Cuddy-Della Valle index). Coefficient of variation around the trend (CVt) rather than co-efficient of variation around the mean (CV) was suggested by Cuddy and Della (1978) as a better measure of variability. A low value of this index indicates low instability and vice-versa. The formula for Cuddy-Della Valle index is given below:
   
 Where:
      
ESS = Variation explained by the explanatory variable.
TSS = Total variation.

Based on value of CDI, the range has been divided in three categories (Sihmar, 2014) i.e. low instability (0 to 15%), Medium instability (>15d” 30%) and high instability (> 30%).

Area, production and productivity of chickpea in India
 
Chickpea is cultivated under rainfed as well as irrigated conditions as a winter season crop in India. Area and production share of chickpea in southern zone (Karnataka), western zone (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan) and central zone (Madhya Pradesh) depicted in Table 1. In these states, production of chickpea increased and area expansion was the main reason for increase. But in some of the traditional areas (Uttar Pradesh) chickpea has been drastically replaced by wheat and mustard. The crop found new niches in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Area under chickpea started increasing continuously from 2006-07 mainly on account of higher adoption of improved short-duration and wilt-resistant varieties in central, western and south India, particularly in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Similar finding was reported (Gowda et al., 2013). Over the period, chickpea production share in states namely, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra increased significantly from 0.97 to 5.15 per cent, 0.76 to 6.53 per cent and 1.84 to 18.32 per cent, respectively.



Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh showed significant expansion during TE-2021. Madhya Pradesh was the largest chickpea cultivating and producing state throughout the study period. Productivity improvement has been witnessed in all the states and highest productivity was observed in Gujarat of 1498 kg ha^-1 in TE-2021. In Maharashtra, productivity increased more than four-fold over five decades. The availability of improved varieties and increased irrigation facilities resulted in raising productivity in different chickpea producing pockets of the country. Joshi and Saxena (2002) also reported that productivity of chickpea witnessed improvement in major states. Even though productivity across major chickpea cultivating states has increased the average productivity in India as a whole showed tenuous increase from 652 kg ha^-1 in TE-1973 to 896 kg ha^-1 in TE-2016 to a sharp incline to 1125 kg ha-1 during TE-2021. This increase in productivity may be attributed to increased efforts by the government through NFSM pulses by undertaking new initiatives like seed hub and breeder seed production programs for quality seed production and seed minikit and cluster FLDs for distribution of quality seed, establishment/strengthening of bio-fertilizer and bio-control production units for integrated pest management from year 2016-17. Area of chickpea moved from the traditional Indian green revolution belt to the central and southern parts. This result was also indicated by Joshi and Rao (2016) in their study.
 
Growth in area, production and productivity of chickpea in India
 
During period-I, all the major chickpea producing states exhibited positive growth rate in area (Table 2). Analyzing chickpea growth performance across periods, the results were quite clear, in the first and second decade, a declining growth rate was found in area, production and productivity. The decline in area under chickpea was mainly due to substitution with high yielding varieties of cereals particularly in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The results were in line with Kumar (1978), Sadasivan (1989) and Lingareddy (2015). During period-II, increasing growth in productivity (0.74%) was observed. During period-III, IV and V all the particulars exhibited increasing trends. Similar trends were observed by Ahlawat et al. (2016) in period-I, II and III Narayan and Kumar (2015) for period-II, III and IV and with Kumar et al. (2019) for period-I, II, III and IV.



Karnataka enjoyed positive growth rate in area and production throughout the study period but productivity exhibited negative growth in period-II (2.81%) and period-V (0.46%). Similar growth trends were reported by Acharya et al. (2012). Gujarat exhibited positive growth rate in production except period-II (-8.37%) and in area except period-II (-4.39%) as well as period-III (-0.08%) while productivity exhibited negative growth in period-I (-3.50%) as well as II (-4.11%). Maharashtra revealed positive growth rates in all the particulars and highest growth was observed in period-IV (area 8.24%, production 13.93% and productivity 5.26%). The results were in line with More et al. (2015) and the production increase was mainly owing to area expansion as productivity growth was not even as this crop is sensitive to weather at different states of growth.

Rajasthan reflected positive growth in production except period-II (-5.66%), area except in period-II (-5.13%) and overall period (-0.25%) and productivity in period-II (-0.56%) and period-IV (-0.97%). But the growth rates in area and production in Rajasthan were not significant. Increase in acreage was observed as the major reason for increased production in the state. Sood et al. (2020) observed similar trends in area, production and productivity in 2000s. Madhya Pradesh demonstrated positive growth rate in area except period-V (-1.40%) and in production except period-I (-0.61%) due to negative growth in productivity during this period (-2.77%). The growth rates of major chickpea producing states were in line with Maharjan and Grover (2018). Some government programs were introduced in period-II and as a result of which, increasing growth in productivity (0.74%) was observed. During period-III, IV and V all the particulars exhibited increasing trends in India and almost states due to government interventions like TMOP, ISOPOM, NFSM as a result of which area and productivity of chickpea increased and resulted in increased production.  According to Kumar et al. (2019), improvement in productivity, has contributed to higher chickpea production in recent years. In order to give much needed fillip to pulse production, the government has included pulses in the NFSM and has been significantly increasing MSP for chickpea and most pulses. This has resulted in an above normal growth in chickpea production in recent years taking India towards achieving self sufficiency.

In all the major chickpea producing states area, production and productivity exhibited positive growth rates but the main reason for increase in chickpea production was expansion in area under this crop compared to productivity in recent years due to highest increase in prices among rabi pulses in last twenty years. Several cultivars with high yield potential, early maturity and durable resistance to fusarium wilt have been released for cultivation in the semi-arid regions of central and southern India and their adoption showed impact on enhancement of chickpea production in short season environments. The populari-zation of improved, disease resistant varieties and prod-uction technology through frontline demonstrations has led to significant increase in production and productivity in western Maharashtra. The soybean-chickpea rotation has become popular in central Madhya Pradesh. In Karnataka, improved varieties of chickpea have led to gradual shift in the cropping system from rabi sorghum to chickpea Gowda et al. (2009).
 
Trends in performance of chickpea in India
 
From Fig 1-3 the trends in area (Fig 1), production (Fig 2) and productivity (Fig 3) of chickpea are presented. The trends showed annual upward movement throughout the entire study period based on log linear graphs, nonetheless, a deliberate reflection of all the data pointed out that, there were variations in the upward movement in data sets. The R² values of area (0.16), production (0.56) and productivity (0.76) suggested that 16, 56 and 76 percent of variation in the respective trends were predicted by the independent variable (time) were highly significant (P<0.01).


 




Instability in area, production and productivity of chickpea in India
 
The variability of chickpea in terms of area was depicted in Table 3. Increasing trend in the initial periods from period-I to III and decreased in period-IV and V. Instability indices were found on higher side during 1980 to 2010 and this might be due to impact of TMOP wherein additional area might have been brought under cultivation by increased number of growers. Similar results were observed by Sharma et al. (2013). However, the variability in terms of productivity was decreasing from period-I to III but increased in period-IV and V. Devegowda et al. (2019) also exhibited similar trends in area, production and productivity instability during period-III and IV. Chand and Raju (2008) also indicated that the variability of the chickpea area increased from time to time but the variability of its productivity sharply decreased after 1988. Bisht and Kumar (2018) and Bairwa et al. (2020) observed similar trends in 2000s. In the first period, the maximum uncertainty in productivity caused the maximum variability in production. In the second period, the instability of the area increased marginally but productivity declined to half leading to decline in production instability. The productivity was more stable than area and production. So, we can say that variation in production was caused by area. The overall period was characterized by a higher degree of variability than individual time periods, which indicates variations in area allocation and productivity in states as well as country level.  The results were in line with Kumar et al. (2019) for period-I, II, III and IV.



In Karnataka, area instability increased from period-I to III but declined in subsequent periods. Productivity instability declined drastically from period-I to II but showed gain in period-III, IV and V. Production Instability declined from period-I to II but increased in period-III and registered decline in recent periods. During overall period, area and production were highly unstable but productivity was comparatively stable. In Gujarat, area, production and productivity instability followed irregular trend but area and production instability increased while productivity instability declined. The results were in line with More et al. (2015). In overall period, area and production registered high instability while productivity registered medium instability.

In Maharashtra, production and productivity instability increased from period-I to II, declined in period-III and IV but increased in period-V. Area showed instability decline from period-I to II increased in subsequent periods. In overall period, production was found highly unstable but area and productivity registered medium instability. In Rajasthan area showed higher instability than productivity but in period-IV and V productivity was found more instable. As in Rajasthan cultivation of chickpea lacks assured irrigation facilities. Due to which there is high risk of crop failure. Sood et al. (2020) observed similar results. In Madhya Pradesh, Production and productivity instability declined from period-I to III but showed increasing trend in recent periods. Area instability followed irregular trend but increased compared to period-I with time. Area and productivity showed low instability but production registered medium instability. In Madhya Pradesh chickpea productivity has shown higher instability than area while all the other states and India as a whole showed higher instability in area. High level of fluctuation in chickpea production may be due to biotic and abiotic stress and its cultivation on marginal lands.

The potential of pulses to help and address the future food security, nutritional and environmental sustainability needs has been acknowledged through UN declaration 2016 as international year of pulses. The results concluded that chickpea emerged as the major pulse crop and it performed better over the time period. Area and production share of chickpea showed considerable growth in southern zone (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), western zone (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan) and central zone (Madhya Pradesh). The growth rates in area, production and productivity of chickpea (0.43%, 1.55% and 1.11%) in India from 1970-2021 reflected an increasing trend. However, area increase in case of chickpea was meagre. In all the major states except Madhya Pradesh as well as at all India level, area was found more unstable than productivity as planting of crop largely dependent on rains. The positive growth rate in productivity of chickpea during time period 1970-2021 indicated that technological and price support had been reflected positive towards production of the crop in major states as well as country level. Overall performance of chickpea was quite impressive which could be seen by positive growth rate and lower productivity variation, reflecting positive sign for achieving food and nutritional security.

The authors are thankful to the Department of Agricultural Economics, CCS HAU for providing necessary facilities for work.
 
Author contributions
 
Conceptualization, resources, writing-review, editing, methodology, data curation, software, formal analysis, investigation and writing, original draft preparation were performed by Dr. Neelam Kumari.; supervision and validation was done by Dr. Dharmpal Malik. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
 
Ethical approval
 
Authors declare this manuscript does not include any studies using animal and human beings.
 
Consent to publication
 
All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.