Four Seasons of Learning and Engaging Smallholder Farmers - icrisat

as Nigeria that will face the greatest deficits domestically. In this region cowpea demand is projected
to grow at a faster rate of 2.68% per year than supply (2.55%) over the period 2007–2030. If an
assumption that cowpea increases will come from only area expansion is made, global as well as
regional cowpea supply will fall short of demand. The projections suggest that increased investments in
cowpea research and extension will be key to generating a regional surplus through increased yields,
whereas regional trade in cowpea will be crucial for achieving food security through redistribution of
the surplus thus generated among countries in WCA. If Africa and the developing world are to sustain
cowpea production and, research on how to increase productivity is paramount. There is need for
huge investments in plant breeding, awareness of integrated pest and disease management techniques,
creation of markets and facilitation of market integration, development of efficient support systems
and development of post-harvest storage technologies. The effectiveness of such efforts will ultimately
depend on how closely researchers, farmers, financial partners and other stakeholders work together
for a common cause.
Adoption studies
Results from adoption studies of cowpea technologies indicate that 72% and 81% of farmers from Borno
and Kano states, respectively, have adopted improved cowpea varieties like IT89KD-288, IT90K-277-2,
IT97K-499-35 and IT89KD-391.The study results show also that over 60% of adopters of improved
varieties were informed about improved varieties before adoption. The study results show that farmers’
participation in previous cowpea projects is important in the adoption of innovations. Frequent contact
with extension and/or research agents, members of a community-based organization or cooperative,
or those who have access to improved seed make a farmer more likely to adopt improved varieties.
In addition, the education level, years of experience in cowpea production and land availability have
significant effects on the farmers’ likelihood of adopting improved cowpea varieties. The study shows
that farmers have also adopted improved storage technologies. More than 79% and 57% of the sampled
farmers in Borno and Kano, respectively, have been using double or triple bagging and hermetic drums.
The study concludes that there is a need to enhance the dissemination of newly developed varieties
such as IT89KD-288, IT90K-277-2, IT97K-499-35 and IT89KD-391 and storage technologies on largescale
across other rural communities through effective and efficient production and dissemination of
seed and triple bags.
Outlook and baseline
Production and productivity trends
Cowpea is mainly grown for food, feed, income and soil fertility improvement. As a drought tolerant
crop, cowpea further possesses a useful ability to fix nitrogen in the soil through its root nodules and
it grows well in poor soils with more than 85% sand, less than 0.2% organic matter and low levels
of phosphorus. The nitrogen fixation ability implies that cowpeas can thus contribute significantly to
sustainability of cropping systems. The crop grows under rain-fed conditions as well as under irrigation
or residual moisture along river or lake flood plains during the dry season.
Area
Global trends in area under cowpea production are shown in Figures 5-1 and 5-2. Although cowpea
global area cultivated has had an upward trend since the 1970s, it increased markedly in the 1990s.
From an average of about 4 million in the 1970s and 1980s, the areas increased to 8 million in the 1990s
and further increased to 10 million in the 2000s. From 1970 to 2009, area planted increased by 0.24
million ha per year. While the area planted to cowpea temporarily plummeted towards the closure of
the 1970s perhaps following the 1973/4 oil cartel which may have undermined global cowpea demand
through its negative impact on incomes, areas increased from the 1980s through to 2009 part of which
may be explained by the advances in plant breeding which saw a number of important varieties being
released within the period following the work by IARCs and NARES. Indeed due to work by IITA in
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Engaging Smallholder Farmers | Tropical Legumes II Project