Pigeon pea is one of Kenya’s key grain legume crops for food security, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas due to its drought tolerance. Kenya currently produces about 107,117 t of pigeon pea, based on the mean of the past three years (FAOSTAT 2024), against a much higher demand. It is both a vegetable green pea as well as a dry grain.
The African Dryland Crops Improvement Network (ADCIN) has made progress in identifying the existing three market segments in Kenya: 1) medium duration varieties with cream-brown colored seeds for both green and dry grain, 2) long duration varieties with cream-colored seeds for both green and dry grain, and 3) short duration varieties with cream-speckled colored seeds for both green (mainly) and dry grain. Effort has also been made to design the target product profiles (TPPs) of each identified market segments. Key traits that have been prioritized in the TPP are 1) yield, 2) days to maturity, 3) constraints (e.g., diseases such as fusarium wilt and Cercospora leaf spot; insects—pod borer, pod fly), 4) seed preference (e.g., grain color; grain size), 5) grain type (dry/green), and 6) cooking traits (such as water absorption and cooking time). Intercropping compatibility of pigeon pea with other crops such as maize, sorghum, and other legumes is also factored in.
During product design team (PDT) meetings, a multidisciplinary team holds discussions to determine the traits that need improvement. The current TPPs have taken into consideration some consumer traits (e.g., cooking time) and processors traits (e.g., ease of shelling), but synergy is yet to be fully met on some thresholds such as taste and flavor. The benchmarks of aspects such seed color, cooking time, and canning are also subject to further evaluation from the market. Another significant information gap in market requirements is on green pigeon peas consumed as a vegetable. These factors form the basis of the next level of the study, which will target capturing insights from pigeon pea growers, consumers, and traders to validate the importance of the current traits in the eyes of these stakeholders as well as identify any emerging needs to add value to the efforts of ADCIN.