Enhancing Resilience and Nutrition in the Peanut Basin of Senegal through Increased Integration of Newly Released, Improved Cowpea Varieties

Project Title: Enhancing Resilience and Nutrition in the Peanut Basin of Senegal through Increased Integration of Newly Released, Improved Cowpea Varieties

Location: West Africa

Contact: Dr. Zachary P. Stewart, Kansas State University, zachstewart@ksu.edu

Collaborating Institutions: Kansas State University (KSU) and Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA)

 

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Dr. Stewart and his team in Senegal.

Cowpea is an important crop throughout the Peanut Basin of Senegal. Knowing what factors motivate farmers to adopt new varieties and how these varieties interact with the environment can be critical to the overall success or failure of the variety. Researchers at Kansas State University (KSU) and Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) will explore these factors in their research project, Enhancing Resilience and Nutrition in the Peanut Basin of Senegal through Increased Integration of Newly Released, Improved Cowpea Varieties.

Five new cowpea varieties, along with two local varieties, will be tested in 1 ¼ hectares plots employing a Mother-Baby trial design. Mother-Baby trials are a collaborative approach which foster farmer-researcher dialogue and involvement by researchers, extension workers and farmers. “Mother” trials will be conducted at three ISRA research stations while numerous “Baby” trials are conducted on farmer fields. While ISRA will manage the Mother trials, the National Agency for Agricultural and Rural Extension (ANCAR) and the Peace Corp will work with the farmers. All groups will come together for farmer field days, data collection and to evaluate and share the trial results. This bi-directional learning approach allows for researchers to understand farmer priorities and challenges. ISRA will also conduct surveys with farmer participants to determine socioeconomic barriers to adoption as well as gender and nutrition sensitivities of the improved cowpea varieties.

Understanding how the new varieties interact in their environment is important as Cowpeas are nitrogen fixing plants. They work the soil bacterium, Rhizobia, to turn nitrogen into a form that is usable by plants. Nitrogen is vital to plant growth. Plants that are nitrogen deficient look pale and have stunted growth.  Senegalese graduate students will analyze cowpea plant tissue samples to understand how different varieties contribute to nitrogen fixation at each location. The data will be used to teach farmers about the fertility benefits of incorporating the different varieties into their fields.

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