Cowpea farmers at Ejura in the Ashanti Region are happy about the introduction of new cowpea varieties by the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-CRI).
The new varieties possess insect-pest resistant activity and produce more nutritious and better yields.
The cowpeas including Zamzam, Nketewade, and Agyenkwa were developed by the Crop Research Institute under the Modernizing Agriculture Ghana project.
The old varieties of cowpeas were susceptible to pest attacks, which culminated in low crop yields.
Eunice Mensah is a cowpea farmer at Ejura. She explained that the new cowpea variety were barely attacked by the pests and grew rapidly when she planted them.
“I had already planted my cowpeas when this new variety came. I planted a small quantity of them when they came.
“But, they grew faster than the ones I had earlier planted.
“It’s also not affected by pests compared to the old ones which I have to spray with more pesticides,” she said.
Another farmer, Kade Domeh explained she was surprised at the rapid growth and higher yields after planting one of the variants of cowpeas.
“I planted the Zamzam variant. I was surprised at how it rapidly grew and yielded higher results.
“It took a longer period for the old variety to bear flowers compared to this new one.This new variety grows beautifully and produces higher yields
Also, this new variety cooks faster and tastes nicer than the old one,” she said.
The project which is under the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana project (MAG) seeks to ensure improved seeds from the breeder institutions like the Crop Research Institute are made available to certified private seed manufacturing and ultimately, farmers.
The project would help bridge the gap of farmers not having access to these advanced seeds.
Dr. Sylvester Addy is project lead.
“This would ensure that there’s food security, nutrition security, and profitability,” he said.
He further appealed to the government to include cowpeas in the planting for food and jobs programme and also fund crop research in the country.
“I’m appealing to the government to add cowpeas to the food crops for the planting for food and jobs programme, because it is a significant food security crop.
“So that we can cultivate lots of cowpea to help farmers gain enough profits and also generate revenue for the government.
“We’re also appealing to the government to fund crop research conducted in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, communities within the Ejura municipality are faced with poor yield as a result of bad farming practices.
They employ broadcast methods of seed cultivation and do not comply with proper fertilizer usage.
Principal technologist, Paul Marno advised the farmers to desist from the practice.
“Farmers should adhere to proper plant distancing and seed rates. In cowpea production, farmers must abide by the recommended seed rate (16 by 20cm) to get a maximum planting population.
“Farmers must always comply with the manufacturer’s recommended dosage of fertilizer used to improve their crop yields.
“When farmers exceed these recommended dosages, it could adversely affect crop production and human health,” he said.
Source\; Myjoyonline