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Dr. Nboynie identified cowpea is an important crop in Ghana because it is a cheap source of dietary protein and also as a good source of quality fodder for livestock and provides cash income for farmers. Whether the farmers will adequately maintain this practice, however, is not yet clear. He believes the projects should be course-corrected to benefit them first instead of asking them to play catch up. [NAIROBI] Applying biochar, a charcoal-like substance made by burning plant waste matter as a fertilizer for growing cowpea could boost the crop’s growth and yield, a study in Ghana has found.. Cowpeas have substantial economic and health importance in Africa, where they provide food for people and livestock, as well as new crops. Likewise parts of Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Volta and A key feature of Ghanaian agriculture is the Ashanti regions savannah areas are considered cowpea dominance of smallholder farms, which constitute an growing areas [4]. ... Weeds are serious problem in cowpea production. INTRODUCTION On the basis of area cultivated, cowpea is the most important food legume in Ghana. Tel: +233 234-972-832 or +1-508-812-0505 Contact us: [email protected] Otherwise, overproduction could lead to price declines in local markets and the crop could rot in the field. A recent study from Bangladesh found that farmers who grew GM eggplant earned six times more per acre than those who grew conventional eggplant. Being indigenous to Africa, a number of plant types that are cultivated in the major growing… California Startups Are Growing Meat From Animal Cells, Cleaning Ghana's Streets: ZoomLion on the Ground in Agona. Out-scaling of quality seed of improved cowpea varieties • Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp) is an important food crop with good soil fertility enhancement ability • In northern Ghana, it is the second most important crop after groundnut. As with many other grain crops grown in the semi-arid tropics, the cowpea post-production system in developing countries is an important constraint. But Nashiru characterizes the marches as a “show for media.” When he used to help organize them, he says he would call village farmers, hand them placards they couldn’t read, and pay them for their efforts. People in the United States, he noted, have been eating genetically modified food for many years. There has been a projection that the rate of cowpea production for the period between 2010 and 2020 would increase by 11.1% . But they understood the companies were unlikely to invest in genetically modifying so-called orphan crops such as cowpea, cooking banana, and cassava, which aren’t traded internationally and are often grown and eaten by farmers without the financial means to purchase expensive GM seeds. The two agro-industries have strong linkages with farmers/producers and aggregators working along the value chains of many crops. Selection of cowpea varieties that produce good seed yield under low soil phosphorus or those with high phosphorus response efficiency can be a low input approach in solving this problem in Ghana. Proceedings of the World Cowpea Conference III held at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, 4-8 September 2000. The ma-jor production areas elsewhere in the world are Asia (India, Myanmar) and the Amer- But whether the seeds will truly benefit small farmers like Alidu and her family — that remains an open question. In fact, cowpea is one of the few food crops in Ghana not currently being processed for use in other products, says Irene Egyir, an agricultural economist at the University of Ghana. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), is a food and animal feed crop grown in the semi-arid tropics covering Africa, Asia, Europe, United States and Central and South America. Other countries in Africa, e.g. Capacity Under 1 Ton/hr 52.0. A humanitarian organization would be created specifically to facilitate a partnership between the companies, philanthropic and governmental organizations, and the local scientists. In other parts of the world, there is some evidence that genetically modified crops can help small farmers. In stark contrast to his work today, roughly three years ago, Nashiru was leading marches in northern Ghana against GM crops. With this new cowpea, farmers will be able to grow more using less insecticide. The Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CRI-CSIR), has introduced four new common bean (baked beans) varieties, for adoption by farmers. The companies initially rejected the proposal, but ultimately accepted the plan after internal discussions about how the partnership could restore their public image. Ghana is the highest cowpea growing country with over 180,000 hectares, more than any legume in the country. Cowpea is a mainstay of school lunches in Ghana. “These [GM] technologies are being privileged at the expense of other potential interventions,” says Matthew Schnurr, a professor at Dalhousie University in Canada. On behalf of NGICA and with the assistance of Idah Sithole-Niang and Katy Ibrahim and in consultation with Eugene Terry, Larry Murdock will plan and organize the Cowpea Stakeholders’ Meeting. Richard Ampadu-Ameyaw, Ghana’s coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa, believes that training journalists and farming leaders about the science of GM food is the best way to dispel myths around it. Some maintained that the foods looked “too clean,” though few had actually seen these foods. Video of the farm visit and the launch of the bean varieties is on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7yu5F5zTCI. News Ghana is Ghana's leading online news portal for business in West Africa and around the World. donate now to support more stories like this! But they say they are open to new approaches that would minimize pests, allowing them to grow enough cowpea to feed their families with a surplus to sell. Both Schnurr and Brian Dowd-Uribe, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco who is researching a GM cowpea project in Burkina Faso, are concerned that orphan crop projects are likely to perpetuate the old agriculture development pattern which benefits rich farmers first and to a greater extent than the poor ones. About 90 percent of Ghana’s cowpea is grown in the north, and while there’s unmet demand for cowpea farther south, bad roads and lack of storage, among other factors, have deterred traders, says Nyaaba. Land preparation & planting. But “the goal of these projects is focused on small farmers,” says Schnurr. Land preparation should be done early to allow for weeds to dry and decompose before planting. It can also help reduce the use of pesticides, they say, freeing up land for other uses, providing enough surplus for regional market opportunities, and giving farmers an additional choice about what to grow. Women sell cowpea at this bustling grain and vegetable market in Tamale, Ghana’s third-largest city. This could prove a barrier to poor farmers, who can’t afford additional fertilizer and have limited land. The release of the cowpea production is … Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon. This Nairobi-based nonprofit now coordinates many of the GM research projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Richard Ampadu-Ameyaw, Ghana coordinator for OFAB, thinks it is best to train leaders like Nashiru whose community ties and farming background lend him credibility in the eyes of local community members. “We are so excited about the bean programme in Ghana. Schnurr says scientists should have first spoken to farmers to assess how many of them would grow genetically modified cooking banana. He has reported... Food Security and Hunger in the Age of Genetically Modified Crops, Finding a Common Thread: How People Around the World Get Their Food, Genetically Modified Orphan Crops in Africa. Today, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OFAB organizes meetings between scientists, farmers, and the media. Biotech scientists say it’s best to offer choices and let farmers decide which seeds best meet their needs. Staff at the Rockefeller Foundation believed that biotechnology could help poor countries grow more food. Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NWSuite #615Washington, DC 20036(202) 332-0982contact@pulitzercenter.org, Jeff Barruspress@pulitzercenter.org(202) 460-4710, “We will illuminate dark places and, with a deep sense of responsibility, interpret these troubled times.”. Almost all of Africa’s genetic modification projects are closely tied to Western organizations. Over time, other big donors such as UK Aid, and corporations such as PepsiCo, joined the coalition. The production is high in the savannah areas and the margins of the semi-deciduous forest (forest-savannah transition zone) . These historical details were published in a paper by University of Minnesota sociologist Rachel Schurman, who had interviewed employees of the Rockefeller Foundation, biotech companies, and scientists in Africa. The release of the cowpea production is … After Oduro explained the science of genetic modification, a different speaker quoted a controversial 2012 study by French scientist Gilles-Éric Séralini. But because none of Zinindo’s farmers had actually grown GM cowpea, it was difficult for them to say anything more. While some African scientists are working tirelessly to reassure laypeople that GM foods are safe, it’s clear that safety concerns, however unfounded, are not the only challenge standing in the way of GM cowpea in Ghana. duced annually. Yet the African Agricultural Technology Foundation does not yet have a project to address this problem. Amid this and other criticisms, the companies agreed to an alliance. Ghana is in the process of developing two Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) varieties for rice and cowpea. “Shoot alhassan on the throat. And because the crop can be harvested within two months of sowing, it fills the “hunger gap” for poor families between May and August when other crops, such as maize, are still young in the field. Distribution is also a problem. 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