The promise of pigeon pea for semi-arid Africa

Food scientists say the hardy, drought-tolerant pigeon pea, well known to Africa, is fast emerging as one of the developing world’s most valuable tools in the fight against hunger. The pidgeon pea, mbaazi in Swahili, is a green, protein-rich legume with many branches and is often used in family meals. It is grown in the semi-arid tropics of sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

The International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit research institute based in Nairobi. Its goal is to use scientific innovation to help the poor in semi-arid areas of the developing world. ICRISAT says over a billion people around the world consume pidgeon peas.

The organization’s director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Said Silim, explained the benefits of the pidgeon pea : "It survives during drought and grows in poor soils with few or no inputs and produces high yields where other crops fail.” In China, for example, INCRISAT is helping grow pidgeon peas on the roadsides, hill slopes and riverbanks. The plants have a strong root system, which helps hold the soil on sloping hillsides.

In East Africa, it is consumed mainly as a “dry grain” that is boiled and often eaten with maize. It is also canned for the local market and is a popular part of vegetarian meals. It is often grown among cereals. In China, it is grown between banana plants and cassava. Its tender stems can be used as fodder for cud-chewing animals - even as food for fish.

The pidgeon pea takes less than 10 months to mature. Since 1970 its production has increased worldwide by 43 percent and it is now grown in an area covering over four million hectares. However, demand still exceeds supply, which is good news for farmers who grow it. India is the largest producer, consumer and importer of pidgeon peas. In Africa, the biggest exporters are Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi.

Salim says Africa exports more than 100,000 tons per year and the demand is so high that the Continent could easily export five times that amount. The pidgeon pea is also commonly grown in some 50 countries in other parts of Africa, as well as in Asia and the Americas.

ICRISAT is working to build on the popularity of the pidgeon pea by improving its quality and consistency. The organization’s scientists and national partners have also developed new varieties suited to various agricultural zones in an attempt to reduce food shortages and hunger. The improved varieties are giving new life to the legume. Credit for the developments is given both to traditional breeding techniques and to molecular biology – using gene identification, marking techniques, tissue culture and other technologies. The new hybrids include vital traits that help to battle a devastating soil-borne fungal disease known as Fusarium wilt, a condition which caused losses of over 500,000 tons of the grain in India and Africa two decades ago.

Mary Nzilani is a 43-year-old farmer who cultivates the crop on five-acres in Kitui, a semi-arid rural region about 200 kilometers east of Nairobi. She says she has been planting pidgeon peas for four years, and, “It seems to be the only thing that feeds my family and earns me money.” She says she has more faith in the crop than in maize and beans, which regularly fail. She uses it in her meals and sells the rest for money to educate her children.

Another farmer, Julius Mwendwa, says he likes the fact that the pidgeon pea matures in different seasons and that there is a huge local market for it. He says it earns him $200 per ton, more than anything else he grows. “When this area is very dry and food is hard to come by, the only green crop that one can see around is pidgeon pea,” he says.

VOA