Wow!

Cowpeas as they should look

Two months of weevil work

A little history first … Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) The CRSP Technical Committee asked: Why produce more cowpea if you can’t store it?

Cameroon, November 1986 …  Can we devise technologies that allow people to store their cowpea grain after harvest with minimal losses?  Partnership between Purdue-Cameroon formed – one of the early participants was Ousmane Boukar; Laurie Kitch, Jane Wolfson, Dick Shade, Moffi T’Ama, Georges Ntoukam

Monoculture Cowpeas

Intercropped cowpea – real world

Background CRSP Project ( ) Goals Create simple, affordable, low-cost, implementable technologies to preserve cowpea grain after harvest on low-resource farms in Cameroon (later West/Central Africa) Do so via Collaboration Host-Country = USA Institution Define success this way: success ONLY if technologies are accepted and used by farmers.

Project Strategy & Tactics Learn from the PEOPLE Jane Wolfson and Laurie Kitch Frequent visits Collaboration the key Work in villages with villagers Create a smorgasbord of control tactics Forget magic bullets Simple, low-cost, available materials No insecticides or chemicals

COWPEA STORAGE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES (1987) 1.Storage in Ash 2.Breeding for storage 3.Solar disinfestation 4.Genetic transformation 5.Air-tight storage

The Triple-bagging (hermetic) technology

Adoption survey report – 2006 Economists interviewed randomly chosen farmers in seven West African countries Plastic bagging technology had 23% adoption in Nigeria, 13% in Burkina Faso, etc. Net present value of the technology was $186,000,000; original investment was ca. $3,000,000 In sum: Big Benefits – what next?

Bill & Melinda Gates Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) Project 5 years duration Improve bagging storage technology Extend technology to 3.7 million cowpea farm families (47 million people) Ten countries in West Africa Budget $11.4 million

Lessons Learned … 1. Respect the people you are trying to help.

Lessons Learned … 2. Leave your arrogance at home

Lessons Learned … 3. Think simple, low-cost, practical and using available materials

Lessons Learned … 4. Try to understand how the people see the problem – see it through their eyes, not yours.

Lessons Learned … 5. Goal should be to see your technology USED …

Lessons Learned … 6. Plan for the loooooonnnnnng haul – 25 year time frame is a good one …

Lessons Learned… 7. Helping poor people is awfully hard

Lessons Learned … 8. Technology alone is never enough … Lee House … Technologies don’t spread on their own. They need help. They ALWAYS need help.

Lessons Learned … 9. Mobilize talented people. If you do, you are 90 percent successful already. (Laurie Kitch, Jane Wolfson, Dick Shade, Moffi Ta’Ama, Katy Ibrahim, Boukar Ousman, Georges Ntoukam, Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer)

Lessons Learned … 10. Accept it as your fate that you are a fund raiser and an awareness raiser.

WHAT NEXT? Can PICS bags work for Other Crops? Are PICS sacks effective against other pests on other crops? (Of course people were already trying them on other crops) Will PICS sacks prove COST-effective for other crops? Future question, given “yes” responses: Could users be persuaded to adopt them and the value chain developed?

As regards “Do PICS Sacks Work” What is the state of the art currently – what crops/crop products have PICS bags been tried with so far? What might be the problems? – Mold might be a problem  aflatoxin? – Insects might develop anyway despite low oxygen – Insects might bore holes in the bags – Seeds might not germinate

The End

Special Thanks to Lowell Hardin Russ Freed Pat Barnes-McConnell Katy Ibrahim Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer Dick Shade Laurie Kitch Moffi Ta-Ama George Ntoukam Venu Margam Dieudonne Baributsa Heather Fabries + MANY more!

WOW!