Nigeria has approved the registration and release of a new genetically modified cowpea for commercialization.
The new cowpea, dubbed SAMPEA 20-T, was developed by scientists at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in collaboration with partners of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation.
The newly registered SAMPEA 20-T is highly resistant to maruca vitrata, an insect pest that causes up to 90 percent yield loss.
According to the Principal Investigator for the project and Executive Director of IAR, Prof. Mohammed Ishiyaku, both on-station and on-farm trial demonstrated that SAMPEA 20-T is superior to local and recently released cowpea varieties and improved breeding lines tested.
The new variety is early maturing and resistant to Striga and Alectra, two parasitic weeds.
The decision to release the variety means farmers will have access to the seed and that will help them to significantly reduce the number of spraying currently to two per cropping season as against the current which is 6 to 7 times.
The research, which is more than a decade old had support from many international institutions, with Bayer Crop Science providing the gene for free on a humanitarian basis. This is to enable small farmer holders to access it at an affordable price.
