Food legumes play an important and diverse role in the farming systems and in the diets of the poor people around the world and for achieving food and nutritional security in the developing countries. Given the importance of food legumes in the developing countries especially in Asia,
the objective of this paper is to assess crop specific trends, distribution and developments in area, production and productivity of three important legumes crops like groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea and also to provide the plausible futures of these crops under the changing future
climate. In this study, a global partial equilibrium multi-commodity trade model was used to assess the future projection of supply, demand, prices and trade of the food legume producing and consuming countries around the world. The study revealed that production has not been able to
meet demand due to the secondary treatment of pulses in Asian countries. The projected demand for groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea in Asia will grow much faster than production as direct consequence of growing population in the region. By 2050 the production of chickpea is about 8%
less than that of demand in Asia. Although yield increases compensate for much of the production forgone due to area contraction, it does not fully satisfy demand, leading to a deficit of chickpea production intensifying with time. The aggregate production and consumption of pigeonpea in
Asia more than doubles in 2050 compared to the level in 2000 which was 3 mt. The projected demand for groundnut in Asia will increase from 7 mt in 2010 to 8.9 mt in 2050. To meet the increasing demand of food legumes in the region, there is need to improve the average yield and profitability of the legume crops by developing short duration, drought resistant, high yield varieties and ensuring competitive prices to increase the adoption of new technologies by farmers in the region
