June 18, 2009
Source:
CropBiotech Update
The Federal Government of Nigeria
approved the request of the
Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of the
Ahmadu Bello University
(ABU) Zaria to conduct confined field trial (CFT) of insect
resistant transgenic cowpea.
This opens the floodgate for basic research to develop crop
varieties resistant to the legume pod borer, Maruca,
which causes huge annual cowpea yield losses.
Cowpea is the most important food grain legume in the dry
savannah of tropical Africa, and it is being consumed in various
forms by some 200 million people. At least 128 million ha of
cultivable area is devoted for its production either as sole
crop or in various mixtures.
The trial site at IAR Samaru will be conducted in line with the
regulatory guidelines prescribed by the National Bio-safety
Committee, Federal Ministry of Environment, Abuja. A community
of scientists from organizations and universities in Africa,
Australia and the United States are spearheading a collaborative
research with IAR counterparts to develop a biotech crop
resistant to the Maruca. The Maruca- resistant cowpeas developed
through similar technique had been field tested in a CFT at
Puerto Rico in 2008. It is from the Puerto Rican experiment that
resistance to the Maruca pod borer was confirmed and scientists
in other parts of the world such as Nigeria are challenged to
duplicate the feat at their own local field conditions.
Coordinating this multi-lateral partnership is the Nairobi-based
African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF). Other key partners include
National Agricultural Research Institutes in Ghana, Burkina Faso
and Nigeria, Network
for Genetic Improvement of Cowpea in Africa, Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Programme for
Bio-safety Systems and Monsanto. The United States Agency for
International Development and Rockefeller Foundation provide the
funds for project implementation. The project aims to deliver
the first Maruca-resistant cowpea to farmers in Africa by 2014.
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