West Lafayette, Indiana
June 6, 2007
Some of the world's poorest people
could increase their supply of a food staple and improve their
region's economic standing thanks to a
Purdue University research
and extension education effort funded by the
Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
With a one-time cost estimated at
a little more than $3 per household, farmers in West and Central
Africa will learn how to better protect cowpeas, an important
food and cash crop, and increase their household income on
average about $150 per year. The foundation awarded $11.4
million to Purdue Agriculture to help people in 10 African
nations safely store the crop.
Cowpeas, better known in America as black-eyed peas, are
marketed by an estimated 3.4 million households in those
countries. Even though cowpea yields are low, the legume is one
of the few grain crops that can be profitably exported by
farmers in this dry, resource-poor part of Africa.
Unfortunately, a pest called the cowpea weevil can consume
nearly all the cowpeas stored on farms.
The World Bank indicates that the majority of people in this
region live in poverty on less than $2 per person per day.
Conservative estimates are that by adopting improved storage
methods, these African nations could see hundreds of millions of
dollars in additional household income.
"Because of the storage problems, farmers are often forced to
sell their cowpeas at harvest, when prices are at their lowest
levels," said Joan Fulton, agricultural economist and project
director. "If we teach them how to store the cowpeas properly,
they can take advantage of higher prices later in the year."
Proven effective in pilot projects, the Purdue-developed
hermetic storage method involves triple bagging the cowpeas in
plastic and sealing them tight. It's simple and not a new idea,
but most producers in the region do not know about it or have
not used the method properly. Not only is the process low-cost -
basically the cost of the plastic bags - it's also safer than
current practices of either no protection or treating cowpeas
with insecticides.
"The chemicals add to the expense of storage and create health
and environmental hazards," Fulton said.
Purdue will work with partners in Africa to recruit and train
technicians who will travel from village to village to educate
the mostly illiterate population by demonstrating the proper
method for cowpea storage. In addition, the Purdue team will
work with manufacturers and suppliers in the region to ensure
that appropriate plastic bags are available.
"Through a simple, low-cost and environmentally-friendly
technology, Purdue will work with African organizations and
program managers to reach more than 3 million households with
information and tools to prevent postharvest losses, a key lever
for small farmers to gain access to agricultural markets," said
Dr. Rajiv Shah, director of Agricultural Development for the
Gates Foundation. "This in turn increases their incomes,
allowing them to build a better life for themselves and their
families."
Purdue President Martin C. Jischke said, "This is an example of
how important outreach is in conjunction with research. The
method is simple, safe, inexpensive and very effective, which
means that getting the right information to these people will
reap tremendous benefits."
Purdue entomologist and team member Larry Murdock began this
work with cowpeas more than 20 years ago when, by chance, he
figured out why the storage method works. A colleague
experimenting with storing cowpeas in two plastic bags used a
chemical in one to kill the weevils and left the other untreated
as a control.
"He thought that his experiment failed because there was no
weevil damage in either bag," Murdock said. "I thought that
interesting and started to investigate why that was so."
It turns out that the pests become inactive in airtight plastic
bags because they deplete the oxygen. As a result, they don't
feed and can't reproduce, meaning the population doesn't grow
and little or no damage occurs.
"While stored cowpeas may only contain a few insects to begin
with, each female can produce 40 or more offspring about every
month," Murdock said. "If they have air and are able to
reproduce, within a few months you have thousands of weevils and
nothing left of your crop."
Plastic bags currently used for storage in the region are often
vented or thin and prone to puncture, making them ineffective.
Households that produce cowpeas only for personal use also will
benefit from improved storage that allows them to safely consume
more of the crop they produce.
Jess Lowenberg-Deboer, director of International Programs in
Agriculture, said the project goal is that within five years 50
percent of the cowpeas stored on farms in the region will be
kept in triple-layer plastic bags.
"Conservatively that would be worth $255 million annually to
some of the poorest people in the world," he said.
The project will combine some of the oldest teaching methods
with the latest communication technology. In addition to village
demonstrations, the team may try text messages and videos sent
to cell phones. Purdue entomologist Barry Pittendrigh, also part
of the team, said cell phones are common, even in areas where
residents don't have television.
"Cell phone use in Africa is rapidly expanding and may be a good
way to reach remote areas," he said. "It's free to receive a
cell phone message in most West African countries, so using cell
phones will not impose an additional cost on the farmers."
The five-year project will cover the countries of Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and
Togo.
Also working on the project are Natalie Carroll, youth
development and agricultural education; Lisa Mauer, food
science; Katy Ibrahim, international programs; Bokar Moussa,
doctoral student in agricultural economics; and Lynn Grimes,
business office.
The cowpea is a key crop prioritized in the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa's (AGRA) Program for Africa's Seed Systems
(PASS), an effort to improve the availability and variety of
seeds that can produce higher yields in the often harsh
conditions of sub-Saharan Africa. AGRA is an African-led
response to broad calls in Africa for a partnership working
across the continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and
their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.
Alliance partnerships focus on key aspects of African
agriculture: from seeds, soil health and water to markets,
agricultural education and policy. AGRA is based in Nairobi and
supported by the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the
Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy,
productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on
improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift
themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United
States, it seeks to ensure that all people - especially those
with the fewest resources - have access to the opportunities
they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the
foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William
H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and
Warren Buffett. |
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