Farmers Benefit from Improved Cowpea Varieties

Small-scale cowpea farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are enjoying better yields and increased profits thanks to improved varieties developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Farmers planting the improved cowpea varieties, which produce more grains for food and fodder, have seen their incomes jump by 55 percent, according to the Nigeria-based institute. The varieties are also resistant to Striga, a parasitic weed that causes up to 80 percent loss in annual cowpea yield in the region. Underground, Striga parts connect to crop roots and feed on them, reducing yield dramatically and sometimes even destroying entire fields.

IITA says that farmers using the improved cowpea varieties earn US $140 more than farmers planting conventional varieties. Some 100,000 farmers in the Borno and Kano states in northern Nigeria and in the Niger Republic have adopted the high-yielding and Striga-resistant varieties.

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