{"id":13088,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/farmers-in-burkina-faso-get-iita-improved-cowpea-varieties\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:21","slug":"farmers-in-burkina-faso-get-iita-improved-cowpea-varieties","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/farmers-in-burkina-faso-get-iita-improved-cowpea-varieties\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers in Burkina Faso get IITA improved cowpea varieties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/image_gallery-1-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9843\" src=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/image_gallery-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"250\" height=\"171\" \/><\/a>Burkina Faso has released two improved cowpea varieties to help advance better nutrition for women  and children,  and boost the incomes of farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two varieties, IT99K-573-2-1  and IT98K-205-8, were developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA),  and have undergone participatory varietal selection with farmers in the central  and northern region of Burkina Faso. Local farmers  and researchers selected the varieties from a basket of options after a two-year trial, thanks to funds from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry  and Fisheries (MAFF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The varieties being selected are early maturing  and high yielding  and are also resistant to Striga\u2014a parasitic weed that limits the yield of cowpea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese varieties mature in about 60 days as opposed to local varieties that mature in about 80-90 days,\u201d says Dr Haruki Ishikawa, IITA Project Coordinator for the Appropriate Varieties of Early maturing Cowpea for Burkina Faso (AVEC-BF) project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Generally, cowpea is an important crop in Burkina Faso as it provides food  and cash for farmers,  and fodder for livestock. Most local varieties in the country record a yield of between 400 kg  and 600 kg per hectare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut the new varieties have a potential yield of 2170Kg\/ha,\u201d Dr Ishikawa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Farmers love the varieties for their yield, color  and cooking qualities  and have given the varieties the following local names: Yiis y ande for IT99K-573-2-1, meaning a crop that helps farmers to escape from shame arising from hunger;  and Niizwe for IT98K-205-8, meaning a crop that has brought an end to hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burkina Faso&#8217;s Research, Science &amp; Innovation Minister, Gnissa Isa\u00efe Konat\u00e9, who is also a researcher, said that the physical qualities of the varieties such as color  and bigger size were appealing  and would make farmers more competitive in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlso these varieties will help farmers to adapt better with climate change,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Satoru Muranaka, a scientist with the Japan International Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), who initiated the project while working for IITA, notes that the improved varieties offer a lot of benefits to farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor instance, because these varieties are early maturing, they will help cowpea farmers to escape from drought. Also farmers now have a crop that they can harvest early, consume,  and sell to generate income when other crops are still on the field. Such incomes help farmers to pay school fees for their children. Again, with protein content of about 20 percent, cowpea provides a good option to tackle malnutrition in local communities,\u201d Dr Muranaka added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Issa Drabo, a Cowpea Breeder with INERA further explained that the early maturing characteristics of the varieties mean that the varieties could be successfully grown in the drier regions with low rainfall of between 400mm  and 800 mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The AVEC-BF project is a research for development project that aims to disseminate improved varieties. The project is developing new dissemination system for cowpea that combines selection of appropriate varieties for the region, community seed system,  and farmer field school activities with the ultimate goal of improving access of farmers to improved varieties  and technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japanese Ambassador to Burkina Faso, His Excellency Tsutomu Sugiura called for the scaling up of the project, having recorded significant milestones in a short period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is the kind of project that should be supported to continue. I hope it will not stop at this stage,\u201d he said. ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pour toute information, veuillez contacter :<br>Godwin Atser, <a>g.atser@cgiar.org<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Burkina Faso has released two improved cowpea varieties to help advance better nutrition for women and children, and boost the incomes of farmers&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[45],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[67],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[191],"class_list":["post-13088","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","location-burkina-faso","crop-cowpea","item-year-191"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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