Since the official release of Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) cowpea in 2019, farmers have been offering testimonies on the bumper harvest of the new variety. JULIANA AGBO writes.
At 48-years-old, Musa Jubril could be regarded as one of few Nigerians who dared the odds by going into farming at a very young age when he had the opportunity of going into other ventures for survival.
At the young age of 18, he had taken up beans farming, taking a cue from his ageing father.
His decision to stick to crop farming for over 30 years exemplifies rare courage especially at a time the farming population in Nigeria is ageing fast amid attacks from killer herders and terrorists who target farms and young people.
Jubril took his courage a step higher when he opted to go into cowpea (beans) farming. At the time, anyone who ventured into beans farming was considered a high-risk taker as they risked losing all that put into such to the Pod Borer insect, Maruca.
True to the predictions of his contemporaries, his farm came under perpetual attacks from the insect. A the time he said all he could do was to recur to the traditional method of soaking sand and ash to spray on the crops, which didn’t help.
At that time, he said there was nothing he could because he couldn’t afford money to buy chemicals to control the pest’s invasion in his farm.
“I was in serious debt because I had borrowed money to farm cowpea. At that time, my children were all out of school because I couldn’t afford to pay their fees,”Jubril told The Nation.
This was a major heartbreak for Jubril because he felt like he should have heeded the advice of his colleagues by not venturing into beans farming.
“When I borrowed money, I was skeptical about it knowing that I have two wives and 15 children that I barely even afford money to feed them or meet up with their most needs,” he said while expressing the frustration he felt at the time.
The veil of frustration was however, removed in 2021 after he listened to a programme on the radio about the Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) cowpea.
The SAMPEA 20-T developed by Scientists from the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State with supports from the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), was released in 2021 for commercialization after over a decade of trials and vetting for safety and other regulatory considerations using international standards.
The announcement of its released was a timely stitch for Jubril who said he had given up on bean farming due to constant invasion of pests and low yield turn out.
Jubril said, before the introduction of the PBR cowpea, he could not farm more than one hectare of farmland as there were no means of purchasing the chemicals that they relied on for the control of the pest.
He said he has been struggling with his small bean farm over years because he had no money to farm on a large scale.
The young farmer who noted that he reluctantly borrowed money to try the PBR cowpea on three hectares of farmland, said he regretted not expanding his farm when he planted the new bean variety.
He noted that what his farm used to look like before the arrival of the PBR cowpea, cannot be compared with the way it now looks as there is a great improvement due to the adoption of the new variety.
Jubril, who said he started bean farming at the age of 18 after his father introduced him into farming, said he has never had better results than what he’s achieved with PBR cowpea in his 30 years of farming beans.
He said in a hectare of conventional bean variety, he produced about 15 to 17 100kg bags, but with the PBR cowpea, he was able to produce 33 bags of 100kg which is very encouraging.
He said: “This intervention came at a time where bean crop has become so profitable. A bag of 50kg beans now costs between N45,000 to N50,000 depending on the variety.
“Out of my three hectares of farm land I cultivated the PBR cowpea, I was able to harvest up to 100 bags of 100kg because in a hectare, I get up to 33 bags and extra.
He said, “Nothing has been this profitable to me in my entire life. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t make a fast decision when I saw money.
“When I sold the first 50 bags of 50kg, I called my wives and some of my grown up children for a meeting. I asked them to table all the things we should fix in the house. My children came up with their outstanding school fees I have not been able to pay, I cleared that.
“My wives also came up with their business ideas which they have been telling me about for the past five years, I told them to write out what they need so I could give them the money. At the end of the day, I was able to settle all of them”.
Explaining further, Jubril said the profit he got from the first 50 bags made him sell more bags so he could build houses for his wives and children who were squeezing themselves in two rooms.
He said: “This is why I told you to follow me to my house to see how my life has changed for the better. These new buildings you are seeing here didn’t take me time to build because of the money I made from planting the new bean variety.
Pointing to a three-room dilapidated and shaky building, Jubril said that was where he was staying with his family struggling.
“In this building, I had no peace because my wives and children always had reasons to fight on a daily basis.
“Today, I have built three different buildings in my compound, no more fights or fear of people coming to separate fights in my home”.
“My children are now in school and all these surprise a lot of people. Some are even thinking I have gone to soil my hand in criminal activity to make the money. But I told them that I am still the bean farmer they know, but this time, it is a different variety called the PBR cowpea”.
When asked if other bean farmers have come to meet him to ask how his farm is different, he said, “I get a lot of calls these days, I have also received invitations from a radio station here in Kano to come and educate farmers or the modern technique I used to get good yields.
“A lot of farmers are asking for this variety and think more of the seeds should be produced so it can go round because if it does, we will have so much to eat and also export.
“As I speak with you now, farmers come to my house everyday to beg for this variety, if I keep giving them, I will be left with nothing”, Jubril said.