AATF, IAR Train Farmers, Extension Agents On Stewardship Of Pest-Resistant Cowpea In Zaria
Farmers, extension agents and researchers from across Nigeria’s cowpea-growing belt converged in Zaria for a stewardship training and value proposition workshop on the Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea variety, SAMPEA 20-T.
The workshop, organised by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)-funded project on PBR Cowpea, brought together participants from Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina and Niger States, who are involved in confined field trials and on-farm demonstrations of the improved variety.
Declaring the workshop open, AATF’s Project Manager for the initiative, Dr Jean Baptiste Tignegre, said that farmers and extension agents were the critical partners in the project, since it is through them that agricultural research findings ultimately reach the farm.”No scientific breakthrough matters unless it reaches the farm. And it only reaches the farm through people like you,” he said, urging attendees to take the training seriously and ensure that they follow trial protocols carefully and record field data accurately, describing such data as central to shaping the future of the programme in Nigeria and Ghana.
Dr Tignegre said the project was designed to tackle the Maruca pod borer, a pest capable of destroying up to 80 per cent of an unprotected cowpea harvest, which has traditionally forced farmers to spray insecticide six to ten times in a season, at heavy cost to their income, health and the environment.
According to him, SAMPEA 20-T changes that equation, as farmers using the variety have cut spraying to just two applications per season while recording yields of 30 to 100 per cent higher than conventional varieties under pest pressure.
He described stewardship as ensuring that every actor in the value chain, extension agent, farmer and seed producer alike, understands and consistently fulfils their role, from site selection and planting through to post-harvest handling and data collection.
The technical sessions featured a presentation by Prof. Mohammed Lawan Umar on best practices for cowpea production, from site selection to harvest and storage.Prof. Umar outlined a six-step decision framework for protecting yield through the season.
This includes covering site and drainage selection, matching seed variety to rainfall patterns, proper planting spacing, soil fertility and weed management, pest scouting, and timely harvesting and storage.He stressed that cowpea production should be treated as one connected sequence rather than isolated tasks, as the biggest avoidable losses typically begin before flowering.
On site selection, he advised farmers to avoid depressions and waterlogged fields, opt for open, well-drained and sunny plots, and rotate cowpea with cereals to break pest cycles.
For planting, he recommended a spacing of 75cm between rows and 20cm between stands, with two seeds per stand at a depth of 3 to 5cm, planted only after effective and sustained rainfall.
He also urged farmers to scout their fields at least twice a week from budding through pod fill to catch aphids, thrips, Maruca and pod-sucking bugs early, and to use only registered pesticides applied at the correct dosage and pre-harvest interval.
Participants visited ongoing PBR Cowpea field trials in Zaria for a practical session to observe the practices discussed firsthand.
The farmers expressed optimism about the training, saying it had improved their understanding of the crop and offered them knowledge on best agronomic practices to ensure they profit from planting the variety.