COVID-19 may stall Nigeria’s rollout of GMO cowpea.

. AGRIBUSINESS:: COVID-19 may stall Nigeria’s rollout of GMO cowpea. The COVID-19 pandemic may delay the rollout of pest-resistant Bt cowpea, Nigeria’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop. The country’s lockdown, imposed to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, has made it difficult to get the improved seeds out to farmers, said Dr. Rose Maxwell Gidado, the country coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Nigeria chapter. ALSO READ:10,000 farmers to benefit from World Bank-assisted project in Lagos. The government’s decision to allow the commercial release of Bt cowpea, which resists the destructive pod borer insect without the use of pesticides, elicited excitement among Nigerian farmers. They have been eagerly awaiting the planting season to try the new crop in their own fields after battling pod borer (Maruca) infestations for years. The Maruca outbreaks have been so severe, and the crop losses so significant, that a number of farmers have quit growing cowpea out of frustration. They saw hope in the Bt cowpea, which scientists have determined confers 100 percent protection against Maruca through the use of genetic modification to introduce the Bacillus thuringiences (Bt) gene.