AATF Assures on Safety of New Cowpea Variety

James Emejo in Abuja

The Executive Director, African Agricultural Technology Foundation ( AATF), Dr. Denis Kyetere, has said the new genetically modified cowpea variety known as SAMPEA 20-T, remains safe for consumption without any known side effects.

His assurance followed the commercial launch in Kano recently, of the pod borer resistant cowpea which had been on trial in Nigeria.

Kyetere had at a virtual press conference, said the technology had no known adverse effects on people.
He stressed that the new beans variety was as safe as the conventional cowpea which is grown without any genetic alterations.

He said: “The effects that are with this PBR cowpea are the same effects that are with the conventional cowpea.

“If somebody is allergic to the conventional cowpea, the person will be allergic to this one as well. But it is as safe as the conventional cowpea.”

The clarification will help douse concerns about the safety of food grown through genetic permutations.
This came as the US Agency for International Development

(USAID) said the commercialisation of pod borer resistant cowpea by Nigeria represented tremendous progress in applying innovative approaches to advance food security.

General Development Officer, Biotechnology Specialist USAID Bureau for Resilience and Food Security Center for Agriculture-Led Growth, Dr. Faith B. Tarr, said at the unveiling of the new variety that: “We celebrate the completion of a critical stage

within a continuous, iterative process by which new food security innovations are developed, disseminated, adopted, and used in order to enhance prosperity, resilience, and nutrition.”

Essentially SAMPEA 20-T is a new beans variety bred to resist the notorious insect pest Maruca Vitrata that causes up to 80 per cent yield loses on the farm.

The technology was developed by scientists at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The USAID said the achievement will advance the country’s capacity to harness science, technology and innovation to sustainably improve livelihoods an nutrition.

The IAR Executive Director, Prof. Mohammad Ishiyaku, said the new beans variety was a significant scientific and economic achievement for the improvement of the production of beans for Nigerians.

He said the innovation will save the country between N17 billion and N21 billion annually by cutting the amount of chemicals insecticide used in the production of the commodity in the fields by planting the new variety rather than the non-resistant type.

Ishiyaku pointed out that the PBR cowpea has the ability to protect itself against the destructive effect of a pod boring insect which had been known to cost up to 80 per cent yield lost on farmers.
But he said new variety has yield margin of between 15 to 25 per cent compared to the conventional varieties currently in cultivation by farmers.

He added that the total benefit from the yield increase from SAMPEA 20T is estimated to at N46 billion annually, “if one million hectares of our land is grown to this variety”.

President, of the All-Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Mr. Kabiru Ibrahim, said about eight million farmers and their families will benefit directly from cultivating the newly launched cowpea variety.

He added that over 12.5 million hectares of land will be dedicated to the production of the new variety across Africa where millions consume cowpea on daily basis, adding that Nigeria is the first country in the world to commercialise the new variety of cowpea.