NAN-AE-8
Cowpea
By Mohammed Lawal
Zaria (Kaduna State), Aug. 16, 2017 (NAN) As part of effort to enhance cawpea production in the country, Taking Cawpea to Scale in West Africa, on Wednesday said it had trained 600 farmers on modern cowpea production in Kano, Katsina and Sokoto States.
The National Coordinator of the project, Dr Nafi’u Abdu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Abdu, who is a staff of Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), said Zaria, the project was initiated to promote varieties of beans to local farmers to scale up production in the West African sub-region.
Abdu, who spoke to NAN after a sensitisation meeting with stakeholders in Zaria. said farmers were educated on the need to know acquire certified seed produced by approved seed companies.
“NASC is the only regulatory body with the mandate of regulating seed in the country.
“One of our challenges is that farmers purchase seed from open market irrespective of its quality.”
Abdu, however, identified Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Nigeria as some of the West Africa countries where the project is working. (NAN)
KLM/ENN/IM
Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Ibrahim Mammaga