Turkey: No chickening out to drought

A new strain of chickpea developed in Turkey has proven itself to be remarkably drought-resistant, said genetic expert Rajinder Malhotra of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), based in Aleppo, Syria. This will be a boon to farmers in arid regions as global warming threatens their livelihoods. The new chickpea, called Gokce, has been successfully grown in field trials in Pakistan, Mexico, and Syria and survived this year's acute drought in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey when wheat, barley, and other crops failed.