last final thesis of umer

2.6. Origin, Distribution and World Production of Cowpea
Cowpea is one of the most ancient crops known to man. Its origin and domestication occurred in
Africa near Ethiopia and subsequently was developed mainly in the farms of African savannah.
It’s an indigenous crop that has evolved from the native wild types and its genetic diversity is
greater than that of any other crop in the dry African savannah (IFAD, 2000).
Nowadays it’s a legume widely adapted and grown throughout the world, especially in the tropics
and subtropics and has become a part of the diet of about 110 million people .It is a warm season
crop that can be produced in semi-arid regions and dry savannah. The major cowpea growing
countriesare,Niger,Mali,Senegal,Togo,Benin,Ghana,ChadinwestAfrica;Tanzania,Somalia,Kenya,
Zambia,Zimbabwe,Bostwana and Mozambique in Easter and southern Africa; India, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia and china in Asia; and Brazil, West India, Cuba and
Southern USA in America(Gianessi,et al.,2007).Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, Senegal
are the other prominent producers in Africa (IITA, 1977). Generally area under cowpea has gone
up with many new countries contributing to total production from the last decade onwards.
In Ethiopia, cowpea is now becoming among the most commonly cultivated lowland pulses. It is
grown in rift valley areas of Ethiopia for its fodder and grain value (dual purpose) (Kidane et al.,
2004). Similarly different genotypes of cowpea are adapted well to the semi-arid lowlands of
northern Ethiopia. Different cowpea varieties such as 82D-889, Bole (85D-3517-2), IT (98K-131-
2) Asrat ( IT 92KD-279-3) and Bekur(8386894) which were released by different research center
since 2001 are under production (MoARD,2009).
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