Published on May 23, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. / Modified on May 23, 2024 at 2:24 p.m.
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It transforms a simple mixed salad into a hearty meal, enriched with simmered vegetables with a floury crunch and serves as a binder for vegetarian burgers. With its firm shell and melting heart with a nutty flavor, the chickpea is now appreciated well beyond the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent where it has been known for millennia. “Today it ranks third in the world in pulses. Due to the changing dietary behavior of many people in industrialized countries, the demand for protein-rich crops, such as chickpeas, has continued to increase,” notes Jürg Hiltbrunner, scientific associate at Agroscope.
While the main production regions are in India, Australia, Pakistan, Burma, Ethiopia and Turkey, climate change is making chickpeas useful to European agriculture thanks to their resistance to drought. “Various tests have been carried out in recent years in order to accumulate experience and evaluate its yield potential in Switzerland. The results are convincing. Since 2023, farmers have been entitled to a contribution, to offset part of the risks of these new crops intended for human consumption,” explains the agronomist.
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