Kersting's groundnut (Macrotyloma geocarpum) is a rare and underexploited leguminous crop cultivated in parts of West Africa, which now faces extinction. A study was conducted in northern Ghana, which falls within the Guinea Savannah ecological zone, to establish the status of the crop, its production constraints and prospects for its future development or improvement. Sixteen types of Kersting's groundnut were collected which could be distinguished by three seed colours. It is predominantly grown on a small scale (0.1-0.5 acre) as a sole crop, but is often intercropped with other food crops. Pest and disease are not a significant constraint in the cultivation of Kersting's groundnut. Over-tasked farmers harvest it late when the soil has hardened, and this has been the main constraint to its largescale production. Variation in seed size exists and could be used for crop improvement.

Seeds of five different landrace cultivars of Kersting's groundnut, Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) Marechal and Baudet, obtained from northern Ghana, were evaluated for their susceptibility to infestation and damage by the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. The completely randomized design was used to obtain data on the oviposition, developmental period, progeny emergence, weight loss in seeds and susceptibility index. The results showed that the Nakpanduri-white, Heng-mottle and Damongo-cream landrace cultivars proved to be the highly preferred hosts to C. maculatus, recording the highest egg load and progeny emergence, as well as the shortest egg-adult developmental period, and highest seed weight loss. The Najung-black landrace cultivar was the least preferred, followed by the Nakori-brown cultivars. Results from susceptibility indices further indicated that the Najung-black and Nakori-brown were the least susceptible to C. maculatus, while Nakpanduri-white was the most susceptible. Overall, the Najung-black and Nakori-brown landrace cultivars consistently demonstrated high tolerance to the pest and therefore, should be promoted or incorporated into breeding programmes to help minimize the high losses incurred by farmers during storage.

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