September 2013 Vol. 1 No. 2

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Hella JP

Massawe CL

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Full Length Research Paper

Participatory market-led cowpea breeding in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence pathway from Malawi and Tanzania

*¹Hella J. P., ²Chilongo T., ³Mbwag A. M., ²Bokosi J., ²Kabambe V., ⁴Riches C., and ⁵Massawe C. L.

¹Agricultural Economists; Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3007, Morogoro Tanzania.
²Respectively - Agricultural Econo-mist, Plant Breeder, and Agronomist; Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi,
³Plant Pathologist; Uyole Agriculture Centre, P.O. Box 400, Mbeya, Tanzania.
⁴Weed Scientist, Natural Resource Institute, Chatham, United Kigdom
⁵Entomologists, Agriculture Research Institute, Tengeru, P.O. Box 1253 Arusha Tanzania

*Corresponding Author E-mail: jp_hella@yahoo.co.uk

Accepted September 09, 2013

Abstract

This paper presents a pathway followed by the Alectra research project group in Tanzania and Malawi breeding cowpea for Alectra resistance and for the market. The main objective of the project was to develop cowpea varieties which are resistant to parasitic weed Alectra vogelii and promote the same to small farmers in Malawi and Tanzania. The paper is based on-station and on-farm trial data collected at Ilonga, Bihawana, and Ismani research stations in Tanzania and at Bunda College in Malawi. On-farm data were collected from 2 Extension Planning Areas in central Malawi and 6 villages in Singida, Dodoma and Iringa regions. Lilongwe and Kasungu in Malawi and Dodoma, Iringa and Singida were the main areas where we collected consumers' preference data. The pathway shows that starting from 180 breeder lines, only 13 lines including B301, IT99K-7-21-2-2-1 IT99K-494-6 and IT99K-753-1 and turned out to be very promising lines against A. vogelii infestation. However after subjecting the same lines to various consumer/market preference indicators such as seed color and size, many lines were dropped hence could not be officially released. This study conclude that market based research has resulted in releasing highly demanded varieties that will stimulate production and increase income of small producers in the two countries.

Keywords: Cowpea, consumer preference, market demand, and variety release.