Improved Cowpea Storage
Type of practice Reduce
Name of practice Improved Cowpea Storage
Name of main actor Purdue University, USA; World Vision and the National Institute for Agricultural Research of Niger (INRAN)
Type of actor(s) Public authority, Research institution
Location Niger
Stage of implementation Storage
Year of implementation 2009
What was/is being done? Purdue University is helping communities in rural Niger maintain year-round cow pea supplies by making low-cost, hermetically sealed plastic bags available through the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) program. Cowpea is one of the most important indigenous African grain. It is cultivated on about 8 million hectares in West and Central Africa. Niger is the second largest exporter of cowpea in the world.
The airtight PIC storage method uses a triple-layer plastic bag to store the cowpea seeds. When tightly closed, the bag prevents the air from coming in. As insects cannot survive without oxygen, this simple technique allows farmers to preserve their crops without the contamination of toxic insecticides.
The goal of the PICS project is to have 50% of cowpea in West and Central Africa stored with hermetic method by 2012. The project is being implemented in 10 different countries in West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Chad. The PICS project plans to disseminate the triple-layer sack technology in 28,000 villages in West and Central Africa.
PICS is a regional, five-year project which is a joint collaborative effort involving various partners including international agricultural research centers, international development NGOs, National Agricultural Research Institutes, government agencies, local NGOs, private entrepreneurs, and farmers. The project is financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Outcomes and impacts Before PICS technology, villagers in Niger experienced up to ten months of hunger, now they will have no month of food shortages. Cowpea is very vulnerable to insects, so two months after harvest up to 50 percent of the grain was totally destroyed. Farmers had to sell the cowpea at harvest time when prices are the lowest of the year, simply because it was better to sell the grain than have the insects eat them.
It is anticipated that the project will increase income by an average of US$ 150 per household. World Vision chose approximately 6,000 villages to implement its PICS project in Niger reaching out to about 10 million people in the country.
Source(s) http://www.ag.purdue.edu/ipia/pics/Pages/Home.aspx; http://www.wvafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=208:nigercowpea-storage-in-the-time-of-global-food-crisis-a-story-of-success-and-hope&catid=48:western-africa-features&Itemid=140
