Cowpea farmers receives USAID support

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said its three-year cowpea project to improve lives and livelihoods for dry-land farmers, in 38 districts of the three regions, is aimed at improving the cowpea seed sector in the three northern regions.

It will also increase sustainability of the cropland through greater reliance on performance by cowpea as a key component within the farming systems.

The three-year project, ‘Taking Cowpeas to Scale in West Africa’, which spans 2015 to 2017 will focus on best-bet cowpea production technologies -- reflecting input from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), USAID Missions, and other key partners in the country.

It is being implemented by the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR -- SARI) in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, IITA, Crop Research Institute, Catholic Relief Services, Management for Development, Heritage Seeds Company amongst others.

Dr. Stephen Nutsugah, Director of CSIR -- SARI speaking at the project implementation workshop in Tamale, said it will improve seed planning and connect actors along the cowpea seed value chain, strengthen capacity of cowpea seed value chain actors, and encourage the use of certified and quality declared seeds by cowpea farmers.

The workshop was to enable the implementing partners of the project to reach a common understanding of the goals and milestones as defined by the project document and implementation strategy, as well as agree on their various roles and responsibilities under the project.

Dr. Nustugah said government is focused on partnering with the private sector to eliminate constraints limiting agricultural investment in the country, citing the National Seed Policy as one of the interventions to tackle challenges in the seed sector.

He mentioned actors along the cowpea value chain that will benefit from the project, which include farmers producing cowpea and fodder, seed producers (community-based and small and medium enterprises), manufacturers and distributors of bags for hermetic storage of cowpea seeds and grains.