The prediction was made during a recent AfS Live webinar featuring four public sector scientists who are using cutting edge tools  to improve food security and agricultural sustainability in Ghana.

The country’s cowpea productivity has been generally very low, said Dr. John Eleblu, head of cowpea and soybean projects at the West African Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI). It has been stagnate for years, with diseases, pests and drought affecting the yield of small holder farmers. This has made farmers over-reliant on chemicals, which are expensive, bad for their health and labor intensive, he noted.

“My research focuses on developing cowpea varieties that can tolerate these environmental stresses, using a combination of tools such as conventional breeding, mutagenesis, tissue culture and genetic modification,” Eleblu continued.  “This will ultimately contribute to yield improvement for smallholder farmers in Ghana.”