A new beans (cowpea) variety developed by researchers at the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria in conjunction with their counterparts working with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is to save Nigerian farmers about N4.8 billion annually.
This was revealed recently by Professor Mohammed Ishiyaku, the Principal Investigator of the pod-borer (Maruca) resistant cowpea project in Talata Mafara, Zamfara State, one of the three trial sites in the country.
“In severe cases, the insect pest causes about 80% yield loss to harvests. For several years, we can only lament using insecticides which cannot withstand maruca, so the best approach is genetic improvement,” the lead researcher disclosed.
He said apart from monetary gains, other expected benefits of using the genetically modified pod-borer resistant cowpea include: 20% increase in
yield, reduction of spray from eight times to two, better health and environment for farmers and end users.

Culled from [url]abugists.com[/url]