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By Chinyere Anyanwu
To help farmers in the various ecologies in the country manage the vulnerability of climate change, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) has identified planting windows suitable for cowpea, commonly known as beans.
This was revealed by the regional representative for West Africa for AATF, Dr. Jean Baptiste, during a visit to Pandagric Farms close to Keffi, Nasarawa State.
The dry season cowpea production being implemented by AATF includes the cowpea field in Panda, which is over 35 hectares in size.
This will ensure that the variety produces at its peak when pest pressure and other climate vulnerabilities are absent.
Dr. Baptiste added that because of the effects of climate change, which include either too much or too little rainfall or an early end to the rainy season, beans are not producing at their optimum potential, making it difficult for Nigerian farmers to collect their crops.
“After a careful study of the situation, we have come to understand that because farmers are not guided on when to plant, crop productivity is often interrupted by climate uncertainties. The rainfall pattern for the country is not uniform and each year comes with its own surprises, so it is important for farmers to be accurately guided,” he said.
He noted that in the last few years, farmers have been suffering from several uncertainty associated with the rainfall pattern and this has greatly reduced cowpea productivity.
“It is either the rain is too much, submerging cowpea farms all over the places as a result of flash flood or the rains end suddenly, or drought sets in at a time the crop needs enough water,” he said.
He advised cowpea farmers to take advantage of identified planting windows, which were carefully arrived at after studying the weather pattern in the last few years.
