English - McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program

McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crops Research Project No: 06-741
Development and promotion of Alectra resistant cowpea cultivars for
smallholder farmers in Malawi and Tanzania
Conclusion
Cowpea grain and leaves are widely consumed in the two surveyed areas. The
contribution of micro and macro nutrients is significant for both developed lines and local
varieties but with leaves having greater mineral content than grain. Therefore awarenessraising
within communities to consume more cowpea leaves is required. However the
amount produced per household is low compared to requirements. Consequently cowpea
intake per capita is low, and does not meet the RDA. However, since households in both
areas still have ample land they should be encouraged to increase the area planted as well
as planting higher yielding varieties in conjunction with preferred local varieties. This
does however require further market investigation.
Other important nutrients such as vitamins, amino acid profile and levels of
antinutritional factors (tannins and phytates) should also be further investigated. The
vitamins and amino acids influence in nutrition while the antinutritional factors influence
on the bioavailability of the nutrients in the body.
Acknowlegement
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial assistance from the McKnight
Foundation, who facilitated successful survey and laboratory analysis of macro and
micronutrients.
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