Recent advances in cowpea IPM in West Africa

Abstract

Cowpea is an important and climate-resilient grain legume for human and livestock nutrition worldwide. Its grains represent a valuable source of protein for rural families in Sub-Saharan Africa while its haulms offer nutritious fodder for livestock, especially, in the Sahel regions. Cowpea production, unfortunately, faces substantial challenges of field and storage insect pests which can cause up to 100% losses. The use of synthetic pesticides, although providing farmers with a good level of pest control, has underscored the critical need for the development of integrated pest management (IPM) alternatives, due to their detrimental effects on humans, animals and the environment. This review examines recent advances in West Africa in cowpea IPM approaches, highlighting research on host plant resistance, biological control, biopesticides, good cultural practices, and on-farm participatory research and training undertaken to support sustainable cowpea production. Numerous IPM options have been developed, tested and validated for combating cowpea insect problems in West Africa by research institutions and disseminated through farmer field schools (FFS), field demonstrations, training sessions, and community-based education. Reviewing these environmentally safer and scalable IPM innovations will provide cowpea stakeholders with insights into workable, sustainable solutions for minimizing crop pest problems, reducing reliance on harmful pesticides and ultimately ensuring the long-term viability of cowpea production and its contribution to food security.

Harnessing the Mineral Fertilization Regimes for Bolstering Biomass Productivity and Nutritional Quality of Cowpea (<i>Vigna unguiculata</i> L. Walp)

“…Cowpea offer numerous advantages over other forage legumes especially unprecedented drought tolerance, greater nitrogen (N) fixing capability (up to 200 kg N ha -1 ), adaptability to thrive well under varying pedo-climatic conditions and higher nutritional quality (especially crude protein content). By virtue of its unmatched hardiness, cowpea plants tend to thrive well on marginal lands under unfavorable weather conditions, making it one of the most climate-resilient crops for dry regions (Toyinbo et al, 2021;Togola et al, 2023). Additionally, higher biomass production potential of cowpea can generate greater economic revenues and thus, it becomes forage crop of immense importance for dairy farmers having limited land resources (particularly land) to grow feed for livestock (Watanabe et al, 2019;Horn and Shimelis, 2020).…”

Identifying critical growth stage and resilient genotypes in cowpea under drought stress contributes to enhancing crop tolerance for improvement and adaptation in Cameroon

“…Cowpea, of scientific name Vigna unguiculata is an important food legume in developing countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Central and South America [ 1 , 2 ]. Cowpea has been referred to as “poor man’s meat” because of its high protein content, 20 to 25% [ 3 , 4 ], as “hungry season crop” because, when grown together with cereals, it is the first crop to be harvested [ 5 ].…”