This chapter focuses on a group of four crops classified as arid legumes, viz. guar/cluster bean [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. (Taub)], moth bean [Vigna aconitifolia L. (Jacq) Marechal], cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers], and horsegram [Macrotyloma uniflorum L.], have been shown to mitigate droughts, maintain soil health, diversify agriculture, and produce a range of high-quality organic feed and industrial by-products like guar gum, guar meal, and guar churi having export value. These legumes are thereby known as natural climate-resilient organic resource crops. These crops suffer from some inherent bottlenecks like longer maturity, slow growth, poor source-sink relationship, rudimentary plant types, and sometimes being susceptible to diseases and insect pests under uncongenial situations with some quality inhibitory traits. Efforts have been made to alter their plant types, shorten growth periods, and improve grain yield returns. For instance, targeted breeding efforts have successfully reduced the maturity period of several arid legumes: from 120 to 85 days in guar, 95 to 58 days in moth bean, 130 to 60 days in cowpea, and 125 to 85 days in horse gram. Additionally, the plant architecture of cowpea and moth bean has been improved to include erect, semi-erect, and non-viny types, which are physiologically more efficient and better suited for modern cultivation practices. Floral biology and structure of arid legumes are not convenient for emasculation and pollination, therefore restricting hybridization procedures. Selection and mutation breeding techniques have made a big dent in these crops. For instance, all notified cultivars of horse gram and moth bean except CAZRI Moth-2 have been developed using these breeding techniques. A large number of economic genes appear to be accumulated in their genomes, which easily respond to selection and mutation techniques. Deliberate and targeted breeding efforts have resulted in the development of 39 guar, 32 cowpea, 20 moth bean, and 21 horsegram cultivars up to the year 2022, all aimed at improving yield potential and agronomic performance. Significant research has been conducted on these crops involving molecular marker development, genetic diversity analysis, and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. For instance, minor QTLs for gum content (qGcI.1) mapped on a single linkage group 102.41 were identified. These crops are embedded with sizeable opportunities: adaptation to low inputs, source of organic produces, soil enrichment virtues, export-worthy significance, etc. These legumes suffer from specific challenges, which need to be addressed. For instance, there is no cultivar of guar maturing in less than 80 days. The increasing use of chemical substitutes for guar gum in export driven markets, coupled with the presence of anti-nutritional factors in guar meal that limit its use as animal feed, poses significant challenges to the sustainability and competitiveness of the guar industry. The area of moth bean is gradually decreasing, and cowpea is cultivated as a companion crop mainly and not as a sole crop. There is a need to breed guar for 70–75 days growth period, developing cultivars of guar with gum content <30% and representing food- and industrial-grade gum viscosity. Enhancing the economic viability of moth bean cultivation requires not only improving yields and market access but also exploring alternative uses such as value-added food products, nutraceuticals, and climate-resilient cropping systems.