WAIMEA — The humble yet versatile chickpea could become Hawaii’s latest success story on the path to food security and sustainability.
For the past two years, researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources have conducted growth trials of more than 20 varieties of the protein-packed legume across six locations on five islands, including Hawaii Island.
On Friday, project lead and CTAHR extension agent Amjad Ahmad presented the results of the variety trials to more than 15 would-be chickpea growers attending a field day at the university’s Lalamilo Experiment Station.
Chickpeas are native to the Middle East and grow in dry climates. They rely exclusively on rainfall for water; that is, they don’t need to be heavily irrigated. Similar to other legumes, they replenish nutrients in the soil as they grow, making them a good choice for crop rotation.
“Soil restoration in Hawaii is a really big deal,” said field day attendee Shaun Bayles, pointing to the damage monocultures such as pineapple and sugar have wrought on soil throughout the state.
Bayles lives on Maui and co-founded Chic Naturals with his mother, Joan, five years ago. The company makes roasted chickpea snacks using Joan’s homemade flavors, but still has to source its garbanzos from Washington state because practically none are grown in-state.
“It would be nice if we could grow them here and have 100 percent Hawaiian products,” Bayles said.
Two years ago, the Bayleses helped CTAHR write a proposal for a state Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Grant, which funds projects aimed at finding new crops that could thrive here.
“Crop diversity is very important for Hawaii,” Ahmad said. It’s a solution that addresses the problems of food security and sustainability — about 90 percent of Hawaii’s food is imported, a fact Bayles said “drives us nuts” — as well as the fact that different communities like to eat different types of food.
“There are so many products that chickpeas go into,” Ahmad said. It’s not all falafel and hummus. Hay collected after a chickpea harvest can be used for animal feed, addressing another primary concern of Hawaii farmers: Feed is one of the most expensive components of raising livestock on the islands.
After securing the DOA grant, trials began in 2015. Ahmad and fellow extension agents on Maui, Oahu, Kauai and Molokai tested 22 varieties of chickpea, which came from the mainland (Montana, California, Washington and Oregon) as well as seed banks in the Middle East and India.
Finding new crops for Hawaii is partially a matching game, since researchers have to find the right microclimate for a given variety. Some chickpeas that thrived on Maui, for example, had poor yields at Lalamilo and vice versa. And Mealani Research Station, just a few miles down the road in Waimea, was ruled out entirely as a possible growing site because it gets too much rainfall.
“Chickpea doesn’t need much water,” Ahmad said.
The Lalamilo site ended up being the location that used the least amount of fertilizer, thanks to a crop rotation method of planting with Sudex grass before sowing the chickpeas.
“The results are promising,” Ahmad said. The first round of trials concluded this year, but the growing team has since received a second DOA Specialty Crop Grant to continue its work.
“We have major questions we need answered, and the state’s been very supportive of our efforts,” Ahmad said. Future research efforts will investigate more locations and varieties as well as harvest methods.
In the meantime, Ahmad encouraged those interested in trying their hand at chickpea cultivation to reach out to him for seeds.
“I really hope that people see we have good varieties here,” he said. Those varieties could in turn be sold to companies such as Chic Naturals for processing.
Donald Fuertes of Kohala said he would definitely be reaching out for seeds.
“In North Kohala, we’re working towards 50 percent food sustainability,” he said. “We’re always open to new ideas and new ways of reaching our goal.”
To contact Amjad Ahmad, email alobady@hawaii.edu.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.