ICARDA was established in 1977 to conduct research and training relevant to the needs of developing countries and specifically of the rainfed agricultural systems in West Asia and North Africa. It is a world center for improvement of barley, faba bean and lentil and, with ICRISAT and CIMMYT, has regional responsibility for chickpea and wheat. Research and training on faba bean, lentil and kabuli chickpea are conducted by the Food Legume Improvement Program of the Center. The genetic diversity assembled at ICARDA, comprising 3,371 accessions of faba bean populations and 5,000 pure lines, 6,800 accessions of lentil and 6,330 of kabuli chickpea, is being used to develop more productive and stable-yielding genotypes. Breeding efforts are complemented by research on major pests and pathogens and on agronomy to improve crop productivity through better water and nutrient use, symbiotic nitrogen fixation and weed control. The improved genotypes and production practices are shared with the national programs for evaluation under local farming conditions through International Testing Program network. As the national programs become more self-reliant in cultivar development and applied research, ICARDA in future would focus more on basic and strategic research.