Cowpea In Africa

Cowpea as a grain legume is an important source of food, income and livestock feed and forms a major component of tropical farming systems because of its ability to improve marginal lands through nitrogen fixation and as cover crop (Sanginga et al., 2003). It is a valuable and dependable commodity that earns income for many smallholder farmers and traders in sub Saharan Africa (Langyintuo et al., 2003). Cowpea is widely cultivated in Ghana under rain fed conditions mainly in the savanna and transitional agro ecological zones (CRI, 2006), but yields are among the lowest in the world, averaging 310 kg ha-1 (Ofosu-Budu et al., 2007). Consequently, efforts have been made to improve cowpea production in Nigeria through various means including the

Cowpea is of major importance to the livelihoods of millions of relatively poor people in less developed countries of the tropics (FAO, 2002).

1.1 TAXONOMY, ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

The name cowpea probably originated from the fact that the plant was an important source of hay for cows in the southeastern United States and in other parts of the world. Some important local names for cowpea around the world include “niebe,” “wake,” and “ewa” in much of West Africa and “caupi” in Brazil.

Cowpea plays a critical role in the lives of millions of people in Africa and other parts of the developing world, where it is a major source of dietary protein that nutritionally complements staple low-protein cereal and tuber crops, and is a valuable and dependable commodity that produces income for farmers and traders (Singh, 2002; Langyintuo et al. 2003).

In Nigeria, 80% of cowpea produced ism grain mainly in the savanna zone of the country (FAO,1999). The steady decline in food production due to reduced length of fallow on land has prompt farmers amend soil with different material (organic and inorganic) in order to enhance plant growth yield (Adepetu,

The impact of this research is to enlighten the teeming farmer on how to apply this fertilizer to increase the yield of their productivity.

In agriculture, the quantity is usually the main goal to reach, although the attainment to that goal depends very much on two long-term aims. The first aim is to increase the overall level of production while the second aim is to avoid fluctuations in crop performance (Erskine,1997).

1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

An attempt was made to study the effect of Nitrogen fertilizer application on the performance of cowpea with the principal aim of coming up with strategies to strengthening the traditional, urban cowpea production in Nigeria.

The objectives are to determine the effect of Different rates of Nitrogen fertilizer on

I Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer application on physiology

II Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer application on the growth of cowpea

III Effect of Nitrogen fertilizer application on seed yield of