Cowpea is a food legume very popular for its seeds and leaves in Côte d’Ivoire. This plant constitutes a significant source of financial income for vulnerable populations in rural areas. However, it production remains low in the growing areas because of the traditional practice of this food. In other words, the cultivation technique adopted for this plant is not appropriate, in particular the sowing density. To solve this problem, research work has been undertaken in 2019 and 2020 with the aim of improving the production of this crop. The first year consisted of identifying the most productive variety in a complete random arrangement with three replicates. During the second, the trials concerned the optimization of the production of this variety by controlling the seed density. For this purpose, the sowing was carried out according to three sowing densities: low density (40.000 plants/ha), middle density (134.444 plants/ha) and high density (280.000 plants/ha) in a complete random device with three repetitions. The parameters collected from sowing to harvest and after harvest were subjected to statistical analysis. Thus, it emerges from this analysis that the creeping variety recorded the best values of the growth parameters. This variety could be used as fodder for animal feed. For variables related to production, the highest values were obtained with the upright variety. The yield of this variety is doubled when cultivated at low density.  Thus, for the financial and food empowerment of cowpea producers, they will have to take an interest in the upright variety and cultivate it in low density.

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Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standley is cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seeds and high nutrition value. It represents a potential source of additional income to rural women who are the main producers. However, production of L. siceraria is characterized by low yields, mainly due to beetle foliar damage. The evaluation of foliar damage on different accessions was based on Proportion of Damage Foliar (PDF) and Severity of Damage (SeDa). Of all accessions, only NI431 had were a proportion of leaves destroyed below 50%. Leaf surface damage for this accession was less than 25%. In contrast, NI227, NI219 and NI180 were characterized by more than 80% of the attacked leaves. In the following investigations, the effect of the organic manure based on beef droppings on the intensity of the foliar damage on NI431 and NI227 accessions was realized. The use of cattle droppings significantly reduced the number of leaves destroyed and the extent of damage in the NI227. Beef droppings also improved the yield of the plants of NI227. The difference in yield for NI227 between the two treatments (fertilized and unfertilized) was 33.53%. These results showed that it is possible to improve the productivity of NI227 through the use of organic manure. In contrast to NI227, Severity of the Damage was the same for both NI431 accession treatments (fertilized and unfertilized). This result showed that NI431 accession would be tolerant of insect pest and that this tolerance is related to genetic and non-nutritional factors of the soil.

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