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and threshing is done either by using cereal threshers or an animal-drawn thresher,
followed by winnowing. Grain yield of dryland chickpeas ranges from 900­
1300 kg/ha. Yields after supplemental irrigation may go up to 3500 kg/ha.
Supplemental irrigation is gaining more "mportance in recent years because of
the ever-increasing prices of chickpeas (1kg sells for more than US$1).
Production Constraints
The major limiting factors to increasing production in chickpeas are the
following:
Moisture stress
Dryland chickpeas sown in early spring are usually subjected to moisture stress
particularly during flowering and pod filling stages. This reduces yield tremendously.
As a spring crop, chickpeas have little or no chance of competing with the
intensive and high-return fruit and vegetable crops grown in irrigated arep.
Low yield potential of cultivars used
So far widely adapted chickpea cultivars with high yield potential are not available
to farmers.
Costly production operations
Almost all production operations of chickpeas are by hand. Hand labor in Lebanon
is scarce, expensive and in most cases not available for the tedious harvesting
operation of chickpeas. Lack of mechanization in planting and harvesting result
in very high labor costs.
Poor agronomic practices
Late sowing, poor seed bed preparation and lack of fertilizer use contribute to
low yield levels.
Absence of control measures for insect-pests and diseases
The yield of chickpeas makes the use of pest control measures not economically
feasible. The podworm (Heliothisspp.) which is a serious pest on chickpea in the
Beqa'a Valley is not controlled.
Lack of chemical weed control
Effective herbicides are not available for chickpeas under the Beqa'a Valley
conditions. In most cases, weeding is done only once by cultivation, just before
planting. Weed competition reduces yield to a great extent.