Increasing Cowpea value chain sustainability in West Africa through product and process innovation

18 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag

Video interview with Yann E. Madode - with his CIRAD partner Aurelien Briffaz of the ICOWPEA project (Increasing Cowpea value chain sustainability in West Africa through product and process innovation) (Yann is also related to the Benin/Soy consortium)

• Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), also called black eyed pea, is a legume seed which is extensively cultivated and consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a very interesting nutritional potential since it is rich in vitamins, proteins and fibres. 
• In Benin, this legume seed is used in many traditional dishes that are appreciated by the consumers: abobo (stew), ata (fritters), moin-moin, adowè (puree), ataclè… 
• Nevertheless, cowpea has two major disadvantages: it contains important quantities of antinutritional factors that induce digestive disorders and it needs a long soaking-cooking time which causes important micronutrient losses (including vitamins). 
• Using a transdisciplinary approach, ICOWPEA project (2017-2019), aims at developing technological solutions through an innovation platform that facilitate the launch of cowpea-based innovative products having a high nutritional value and meeting local demand.

Objectives
Through its research activities, ICOWPEA project aims:

• Increasing cowpea consumption in Cotonou through the improvement of processing conditions and the development of cowpea-based products of high nutritional value.
• Co-building sustainable product-process innovation in close collaboration with local cowpea processors and small food businesses through participative research.
• Contributing to food security in urban context through the development of cowpea-based products having both high nutritional and organoleptic values.

ICOWPEA project presentation (in French) (888 Ko)

Partners
The different project partners and associated are already, for the most part, long-standing partners who collaborated on different projects.

• CIRAD

  
  

  French agricultural research and international cooperation organization working for the sustainable development. CIRAD ensures the general coordination of ICOWPEA.
• FSA-UAC

  
  

  Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the University of Abomey-Calavi (FSA-UAC), Abomey-Calavi, Benin
• IRD

  
  

  Research Institute for Development (IRD)/ NutriPass Unit, Montpellier, France
• Montpellier SupAgro

  
  

  Montpellier SupAgro - Institute for Higher Education in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agri-Food Sciences, Montpellier, France
• Small entreprises

  
  

  ALITECH Industries entreprise, Cotonou, Benin, and other small businesses