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Chickpea Cultivation
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In Syria most of the chickpea crop is rainfed except for a small irrigated area
(0.5% of the total).
Chickpea is planted in the spring from 15 February to 15 March, in two
separate rotations. The first is a three-crop rotation (chickpea-wheat-fallow)
which is employed throughout most of the semi-fertile areas, especialfy in the
Hauran. The second is a two-crop rotation (chickpea-wheat) which isused mainly
in the more fertile areas such as Horns and Hama as well as a small area in
Hauran, Aleppo and ldlib.
Chickpea planting is semi-mechanized; the land is plowed several times by
tractor in the summer after the harvest of cereal crops. The second plowing is
done one month before planting date. The chickpea seeds are usually sown by
hand (broadcasting), and are then covered with soil by an animal- or machinedrawn
cultivator.
Fertilization is usually done directly before planting using 48% triple superphosphate
at 100 kg/ha. The seeds are planted at a rate of 80-120 kg/ha. The
farmer manually weeds the land twice a year. 'Cotton dust' is applied at 20-25
kg/ha to control chickpea podborer and aphids. Losses are usually very high
during infection. This sometimes results from the farmer's lack of knowledge of
technically advanced methods and application.
The harvesting is done by hand 31/z to 4 months after planting. The crop is
dried and carried to the threshing floor (a hard flat area) and threshed by an
animal-drawn thresher or tractor. In the Hauran, the chickpeas cannot be harvested
with a combine harvester because the land is rough and full of stones.
The yield in recent years has ranged between 290 and 950 kg/ha. There are
several reasons for these low yields. These are:
I. Scarce rainfall during the planting seasons in 1973, 1975 and 1979 in
Hauran.
2. Rainfall not distributed uniformly in the season.
3. Late planting date.
4. Poor land preparation (the farmer believes that planting costs will be reduced
if he reduces land preparation).
5. Broadcasting of seed (the farmer may increase the seed rate; some seeds may
not germinate).
6. Lack of adequate weed control.
7. Crop infected with several pathogens such as blight, wilt, rust and root rot, as
well as insects and pests. The farmer cannot adequately control these and he
therefore loses yield.
8. High-yielding cultivars resistant to frost and disease are not yet available.
The yield could possibly be increased to more than 2000 kg/ha if these
problems are solved.