Farmers' participatory integrated crop management with special reference to fungal diseases of vegetable chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is grown both as a vegetable and a grain legume in the rice and/or wheat cropping systems (RWCS) of the Indian subcontinent. Its green grains are a rich source of protein in the vegetarian diets of poor. However, the profitable cultivation of chickpea is constrained by fungal diseases, [Fusarium wilt (FW), Ascochyta blight (AB) and Botrytis gray mold (BGM)] and pod borer. We reintroduced chickpea in RWCS following integrated crop management (ICM) technology in collaboration with farmers in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The ICM included wilt resistant chickpea cultivars, seed priming, Rhizobium inoculations, seed treatment with fungicides, reduced seed rate, and need-based fungicide and insecticide sprays. Following ICM several thousand farmers have reestablished chickpea cultivation for vegetable and grain purposes in the RWCS.