Samantha Donovan: An increasing number of Australian farmers are choosing to grow chickpeas this year now that access to the biggest market for the legume has been restored. India effectively shut out Australian chickpea farmers in 2017 when it slapped a 66 per cent tariff on their product to protect its own farmers. But that tariff has now been cut to 10 per cent. Megan Hughes has more.
Megan Hughes: It's not hard to convince farmers of the merits of growing chickpeas.
Mervyn Bourne: They're probably one of the safest crops to grow, give you the best return, don't need a lot of fertiliser for them.
Megan Hughes: That's Mervyn Bourne who's been farming in central Queensland for 35 years. But this year he's doing something completely new. He's going all in on chickpeas on his farm at Kilcummin, south west of Mackay.
Mervyn Bourne: This is the first time we've planted 100 per cent chickpea. We generally have a mixture of crops and it's probably the first time that we've actually double cropped 320 hectares. Looking very good at the moment.
Megan Hughes: Australia doesn't tend to eat many chickpeas. In fact, we consume just one per cent of what we grow here each year. But they're a staple food in India and Australia used to send them there by the shipload. But in 2017, long before Donald Trump put them back on the agenda, the Indian government put a 66 per cent tariff on Australian chickpeas to protect their local farmers.
Peter Wilson: We are in the environment where everybody wants to talk about tariffs. It's like front page news on even regional newspapers today.
Megan Hughes: Peter Wilson is the chair of the Australian Pulse Council. He watched on as the Australian chickpea industry shrunk dramatically, dropping to a quarter of its previous size. But last year, India once again opened the door to Australian chickpeas. And Mr Wilson says Australia is in a position to take full advantage.
Peter Wilson: India is there. It's there as a destination with a 10 per cent tariff. But outside of India, you have pretty good demand in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the UAE does take in quite a lot of Desi chickpeas as well. So there is actually a multi-phase market that does exist for Desi chickpeas. And so it is, you know, it's quite deep.
Megan Hughes: India took nearly two million tonnes of chickpeas from Australia last year and is showing no sign of slowing down in 2025. And despite the previous instability, Peter Wilson is confident the Indian market will stay strong for Australian growers.
Peter Wilson: At the end of the day, this is food we're talking about. We're not talking about bits that go on machines or whatever else. We're talking about food and we're talking about food security. So, you know, we want to keep those trade lanes, you know, well and truly open.
Megan Hughes: Australian chickpeas still face a 10 per cent import tariff to India. But given the prices hovering at a very healthy point and given how cheap they are to grow, Australian farmers are looking to cash in.
Rhys Daniels: Dad was growing chickpeas when I came home in the late 90s. Yeah, so probably since the early 90s, I think, we've been growing chickpeas here.
Megan Hughes: Rhys Daniels runs a mixed grain and cattle operation, at Capella, near Emerald in central Queensland. Like he said, he's no stranger to planting chickpeas. And while he's excited about the renewed potential of chickpeas, he's also taking a more careful approach to this year's crop.
Rhys Daniels: The gross margins for chickpeas blows pretty much everything else out of the water and dry land. So I can understand why people do that. We just, we like to rotate things and just worry about too much chickpea all at once.
Samantha Donovan: Central Queensland farmer Rhys Daniels, that report from Megan Hughes.