Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

irregular rainfall early in the cropping season which may cause death of emerged seedlings especially
if the interval between two rains is long. The cowpea plants may also be subjected to terminal drought
due to short raining season which is becoming more frequent in the dry areas of SSA. Irrigation facilities
are very limited in this region and where they are available high value crops such as vegetables are
given priority over cowpea. Hence cowpea production depends almost entirely on rainfall. Thus the
development and deployment of more drought tolerant varieties would help farmers obtain better and
more stable grain yield from their cowpea plots. In order to develop more drought tolerant varieties it
is necessary to identify cowpea lines with enhanced levels of drought tolerance. These would serve as
parents for crossing to lines which have already been accepted by farmers. The thrust of this project is
to enhance cowpea productivity in the dry savanna regions of SSA through genetic improvement.
Targets achieved in this project:
1) We evaluated existing cowpea breeding lines for their drought tolerance and the more drought
tolerant lines were selected with farmers’ involvement. Seeds of these lines were multiplied and
made available to farmers to grow and compare with their own varieties. The selected varieties
outperformed farmers’ own varieties at all locations.
2) More than 200 kg seed of selected lines with enhanced drought tolerance was produced and used
in trials in at least 30 locations.
3) We evaluated over 1,000 germplasm lines for their drought tolerance.
4) About 20 lines with enhanced drought tolerance were identified and crossed to existing breeding
lines with farmers and consumers preferred traits.
5) Over 200 populations segregating for drought tolerance, and resistance to Striga have been
generated. These are still being advanced.
6) DNA markers (SNPs) associated with drought tolerance, bacterial blight and Striga resistance
identified in the TL I project at UC Riverside were validated at IITA.
7) A report on assessment of gaps in collaborating scientists, extension agents and farmers’ skills was
produced.
8) Early adoption studies of improved cowpea varieties were carried out in Nigeria.
9) Support for upgrading drought screening sites was provided in each country based on their needs.
10) Five national programs are now active in breeding cowpea for drought tolerance.
11) One stakeholders’ workshop and two community workshops were held each year in each country
to plan activities and receive feedback from stakeholders.
12) One thousand and nine hundred (1,900) farmers participated in participatory variety selection (PVS)
in identifying drought tolerant lines possessing desirable traits in five countries.
13) Seven graduate students have been or are being trained at MSc level in plant breeding.
Activities
There were three main activities undertaken in cowpea research and development during this phase
of the project, namely:
a) Testing existing cowpea varieties and lines for their drought tolerance
b) Creating segregating populations for drought tolerance and attendant traits and
c) Strengthening capacity of NARS scientists
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project