Farmers in Nigeria and Niger have seen their profits increase by about 55 percent thanks to new cowpea varieties developed by the International Institute on Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and its national partners in Nigeria. Farmers who use cowpea traditional varieties earn about US$251 per hectare while those who are growing the improved cowpea varieties earn about US$390, says IITA agricultural economist Paul Amaza. Over 100,000 farmers in Borno and Kano states in northern Nigeria and in the Niger Republic are currently using the improved varieties, where their adoption rate is conservatively estimated at 65 percent, says Alpha Yaya Kamara, IITA's savannah systems agronomist.

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