Coalition demands Cowpea ban in Nigeria, West African countries

A coalition of non-governmental organisations, farmer groups and research experts from various African countries have called on the Nigerian government to revoke the permits granted by Nigeria’s National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, for the commercial release of genetically modified (Bt) Cowpea (PBR-Cowpea).

This call was made on Thursday during a virtual international press conference: Pushing Back Bt Cowpea in Africa, organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in collaboration with the African Center for Biodiversity (ACBio).

Stakeholders unanimously demanded that distribution to farmers be stopped immediately, as this is bound to have severe long-term negative implications on the environment and farmers’ seed and populations, and production practices.

Further, Nigerian farmers could become trapped in unsustainable, unsuitable, and unaffordable farming practices, deepening the threat to food and nutritional security and ultimately farmers’ rights. We also admonish other African governments to desist from the use of this variety and other GM crops on the continent, which represent continued agrarian extractivism and exploitation of smallholder farmers.