MELFORT, Sask. – Pulse crop experts attending Pulse Tour 2001 think it could be a field day for desi chickpeas this year.
“I think this is the one year in five when desis do really well,” said University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre breeder Bert Vandenberg.
“We’re into a high price year. Even if production is down due to drought, it’s still going to work out. What other crop can you say that for?” he asked during an interview at Agriculture Canada’s research farm field day in Melfort.
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The main reasons for his optimism are problems in India and Australia.
There has been talk all year long of a one to two million tonne shortfall in chickpea production in India, the world’s largest producer and consumer of desis, said Vandenberg.
Pulse Canada vice-president Gordon Bacon, who also attended the Melfort field day, said there was a “huge shortfall” in winter crop production in India, a country that has two growing seasons. Those problems could be compounded in the summer season by a lack of monsoon rains in some states.
The desi price outlook should also be bolstered by supply estimates.
One of the international guests attending the field day in Melfort was John Slatter, program manager with Pulse Australia.
He said conditions were less than ideal this spring in the northern part of his country, where the majority of the desi chickpea crop is grown. Only 20 percent of the crop went into the ground in Queensland, a state that accounts for about half of the northern crop zone.
“Most of Queensland has not planted a seed,” said Slatter, who was visiting Saskatchewan on vacation and came out to see how pulse crop tours are conducted.
Country-wide, acreage is down 20 percent from last year’s crop of 500,000 acres. Even worse, the 400,000 acres planted this spring is down 60 percent from what farmers intended to seed.
“The Australian desi chickpea crop is down on expectations, although what is planted has got good potential,” Slatter said.
His countryman, Michael Materne, was also at the Melfort field day. He works with Agriculture Victoria in the southeastern portion of Australia where most of the lentil crop is grown.
He said red lentil acreage is up 15 percent from last year and he expects a crop of about 260,000 tonnes, which is 65,000 tonnes higher than what the Stat Publishing markets newsletter forecasts.
“We could actually produce a lot of red lentils this year,” said Materne.
The Australians agreed with Vandenberg that desi markets look strong for a year or two, especially in light of Canada’s drought.
Vandenberg isn’t convinced that Canada’s chickpea production will suffer from the drought. He said the hot, dry weather is helping keep disease in check and crop development is ahead of schedule.
Canada should be able to ship product earlier this year, increasing the odds of tapping into strong demand from India and the Middle East’s Ramadan market.
