“We are so excited about the bean programme in Ghana. UNDER THE noonday sun, Alimatu Alidu uses a stone to grind tomato, red pepper, and small crayfish into a red paste. The companies also wanted strict licensing contracts that specified where, when, and to whom they would make the genes available royalty-free. Whether the farmers will adequately maintain this practice, however, is not yet clear. The companies initially rejected the proposal, but ultimately accepted the plan after internal discussions about how the partnership could restore their public image. “These [GM] technologies are being privileged at the expense of other potential interventions,” says Matthew Schnurr, a professor at Dalhousie University in Canada. News Ghana is Ghana's leading online news portal for business in West Africa and around the World. Image by Ankur Paliwal. 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. Children in Alimatu Alidu’s household, shown here, enjoy a dish made from cowpea. At her doctor’s request, Alidu increased her own consumption when she was pregnant, and she used the ground seeds to wean her children. For one, she and some of Zinindo’s farmers already intercrop cowpea, which lessens pest infestation. “More scientists are coming forward to change public perception,” says Joseph Opoku Gakpo, an Accra-based journalist. Annual production in 2011 was estimated at more than 235,000 tonnes. Phone : +254 (0) 709 134 000, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7yu5F5zTCI, Youth agri-entrepreneur transforming his community through job creation in Tanzania – case of Pastory Tarasisi, Alternative income for rural women in Zimbabwe in the wake of COVID 19, Capitalizing on digital tools to sustain bean production, trade and consumption amidst COVID-19. But “the goal of these projects is focused on small farmers,” says Schnurr. The two agro-industries have strong linkages with farmers/producers and aggregators working along the value chains of many crops. Cowpea is a mainstay of school lunches in Ghana. “This is the type I want.”. But they had conditions. This could prove a barrier to poor farmers, who can’t afford additional fertilizer and have limited land. Fischer’s research in South Africa indicates that its GM maize, which resists a common pest that bores into the stalk of the plant, poses a challenge to poor farmers in particular because non-subsidized seeds are expensive and the crops require regular watering as well as synthetic fertilizers. Today, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OFAB organizes meetings between scientists, farmers, and the media. But, says Oduro, once someone has stirred up fear, it is difficult to convince people not to be afraid. In response, scientists have genetically modified cowpea plant lines to resist the pest, and advocates for the technology — which involves altering an organism’s DNA in ways that aren’t possible through traditional breeding — believe that genetically modified (GM) cowpea can help feed the fast-growing population on a warming planet. Rich farmers are mostly literate, understand technology, and can afford risks. In Ghana, supporters of GM cowpea welcome Western support and believe the international partnerships serve the interests of local farmers. “He said that nothing happened to them,” says Nashiru. ... Weeds are serious problem in cowpea production. Image by Ankur Paliwal. “Prof. We work with more than 350 partners and members across 30 countries to do just that. Researchers and scientists working on the project are elated about the success story, describing the release of the new common bean varieties as a breakthrough. Land preparation & planting. But cowpea has been under attack for years. In other parts of the world, there is some evidence that genetically modified crops can help small farmers. Two years later, it formed the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB), an advocacy arm tasked with changing the public’s negative perception of GM products. And yet, before Nashiru’s visit to Zinindo, many of the local farmers had never even heard of genetic modification. Former anti-GM activist Mohammed Adams Nashiru says he had a change of heart after he heard scientists speak about the science of GM food and learned that Americans have been eating GM food for decades without any harm. The biotech companies wanted Asia and Latin America “off the table” because business was thriving in these regions. Agricultural economist Irene Egyir wants promoters of GM cowpea to create local industries that process cowpea into other products so that farmers can earn more money. Growth, Nodulation and Yield Response of Cowpea to Phosphorus Fertilizer Application in Ghana: B. Karikari, E. Arkorful and S. Addy: Abstract: Phosphorus is a major limiting nutrient in soils in Ghana. “There is no free lunch,” says Edwin Kweku Andoh Baffour, a spokesperson for Food Sovereignty Ghana, the most active anti-GM group in the country. The release of the cowpea production is … Smallholder farmers are encouraged to participate in cowpea production when distance to both. Together, they live in thatch huts that surround this open-air kitchen in the northern village of Zinindo. Dr. Asibuo has been working with stakeholders at various levels to promote the commercial cultivation of common beans in the interest of the nation and farmers. Capacity Under 1 Ton/hr 52.0. THE ROOTS of GM cowpea date back to the 1990s, when the Rockefeller Foundation, a New-York based philanthropy, entered into a series of conversations with companies that own many of the genes used to modify food, including Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta. That day, the audience voted against genetically modified crops. The study showed Séralini’s lab rats developed cancer after eating GM corn. Subsistence farmers Lamnatu Alidu (left) and Alimatu Alidu (right) in northern Ghana depend on cowpea to meet the protein requirement of their 16-person family. Image by Ankur Paliwal. A humanitarian organization would be created specifically to facilitate a partnership between the companies, philanthropic and governmental organizations, and the local scientists. Other days, Alidu prepares cowpea fritters, or koose, whipping ground cowpea and water into a batter, adding spices, then frying individually-rolled balls to be served for breakfast. Baffour, the spokesperson for Food Sovereignty Ghana, says that he doesn’t believe studies such as the ones analyzed in the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine report. The release of the cowpea production is … This is why biotech scientists say it’s best to offer choices and let farmers decide which seeds best meet their needs. The company has support from the government flagship program “one district one factory”. The farm demonstrations were to determine the bean characteristics, yield potentials, and commercial value of the exportable commodities, especially on the international market. He believes the projects should be course-corrected to benefit them first instead of asking them to play catch up. Hunger and malnutrition persist in Ghana, primarily in the north, as well as in many rural and peri-urban communities across the country. 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. Dr Abdourhamane said the crop was widely cultivated and that consumed cowpea was an important legume for the nutrition and health of people in many countries hence the need for Ghana to boost its production. “The donors and scientists probably have good intentions, and they want to help,” says Klara Fischer, an associate professor of rural development at the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences. 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. She and her family eat cowpea, she said. 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. duced annually. Sometimes poor farmers follow their lead after seeing the technology work. 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. He says he had a change of heart in 2014 at an OFAB workshop where Walter Sandow Alhassan — former head of Ghana’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research — told an audience of farmers and journalists that GM food has been rigorously tested and is safe to eat. Amid this and other criticisms, the companies agreed to an alliance. Although scientists and the OFAB are working to get that message out — with some scientists even asking their pastors to let them speak about GM food after Sunday prayers — changing public perception “is extremely challenging,” says Vivian Oduro, a plant scientist with the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute in Accra. Ghana, 2019. And the small red variety fits into the local food preparation, of Waakye (rice cooked with bean/cowpea) which is consumed in the morning and afternoon in the cities and villages and is popular among all classes of people. For one, he has travelled internationally. • Cowpea is an important source of protein for human and animal nutrition in many parts of the semiarid - tropics • Cowpea yields at farmers’ levels in Northern Ghana are low and the yield reducing factors include insect pests, Striga infestations and low adoption of recommended or improved production … 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- African Agricultural Technology Foundation officials have said they will work on reducing post-harvest losses in coming years. In an email shared with Undark, a Kenyan scientist cautioned his colleagues against meeting Schnurr, whom he feared could be peddling anti-GM propaganda. harvested annually. These groups reached out to African scientists, many of whom believe that biotechnology can solve some of African agriculture’s problems. • Average farm-level yield on area basis is low (0.4t-0.6t/ha) compared to research fields (1.6-2.5t/ha). Here in this rural village, Alidu and other poor farmers have not been following these controversies. According to Alidu, none of them have ever returned. In 2015, an Accra-based newspaper ran an article that quoted him saying genetically modified food is safe. West Africa are Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. A winged pest, Maruca vitrata, bores into the pods and nibbles away at the seeds, destroying anywhere between 20 and 80 percent of West Africa’s cowpea crops every year. 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. [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. Famers growing these new varieties target home consumption and street vending foods, “Waakye”, a traditional nutritious street dish made from beans and rice, is very affordable. They grow the crop and use it in their food basket. Ghana will in about a year see the commercial release of pest-resistant Barceló’s Thurigensis (BT) cowpea seeds to the food value chain for mass cultivation by farmers. We believe that beans can improve the food security, income and health of smallholder farmers and urban dwellers across Africa, as well as contribute to improved soil fertility. The Rockefeller Foundation agreed to these terms and soon found an additional partner — the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which at that time was also trying to bridge partnerships between U.S. universities, biotech companies, and research institutions in developing countries to increase the global acceptance of biotech products. Ghana is in the process of developing two Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) varieties for rice and cowpea. Schnurr has been researching GM orphan crop projects in Africa for over a decade. 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. Otherwise, overproduction could lead to price declines in local markets and the crop could rot in the field. He took the participants through cowpea production and challenges and how Bt-Cowpea comes as a sustainable solution. 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