Quantifying the Scale and Scope of Nutritious Cowpea Products in Local Markets

Principal Investigator

Véronique Thériault

Associate Professor
theria13@msu.edu
517-353-7856

Overview

West Africa is the global locus of cowpea production. Across the region, cowpea products provide critical nutrients and cash income to smallholder farmers. Yet, little is known in quantitative terms about the scale and scope of cowpea products in local markets. Beyond grains, market-based incentives for cowpea-based products, including leaves and processed items have received limited attention.

Our research in Mali and Senegal seeks to close the information gap by building a quantitative inventory of cowpea-based products supplied by different vendors across rural and urban local markets and collecting shopper data to test the effectiveness of market-based incentives on consumer behavior.

Through several conduits, we will strengthen the capacity of local partners to conduct market analyses, assess consumer demand, and implement policy research using innovative methods and tools.

Our results will inform the development of incentives for expanding the array of nutritious cowpea-based products sold in local markets, especially by small-scale women enterprises. More market opportunities for cowpea through value-added products would help contribute to livelihood resilience for farmers relying on cowpea as a source of income.