Cowpea Project Review and Planning Meeting
Objectives and Expected Outputs

Venue: Abuja, Nigeria
Date: 2-5 June 2008

Background

The Cowpea project originated as a response to the need to address the heavy grain losses inflicted by the cowpea pod borer, Maruca vitrata in core cowpea production regions of West Africa. Although great progress has been made in developing improved cowpea varieties that are high yielding and resistant to some insect pests, existing germplasm does not contain sufficient levels of resistance to Maruca.

Cowpea is a recalcitrant species for tissue culture and transformation. A major challenge for this project, as well as for others working on cowpea, has been the development of an efficient transformation system to produce sufficient numbers of T0 events for elite event selection. Early product development work has achieved key milestones, namely, (i) an optimized and reliable transformation system; (ii) several transgenic events expressing high levels of the Bt-protein in various plant tissues; and (iii) demonstration of a large number of events showing virtually 100% mortality on Helicoverpa armigera, a closely related species to the target lepidopteran pest Maruca vitrata. The next crucial step is thus to test efficacy of these transgenic events on the target pest.

The project can now plan for further product development and product deployment stages more precisely. It also means that all the activities with the Bt events now enter a much more regulated environment, and thus putting regulatory affairs in the critical time path for the project. Moreover, all project activities, including product development, testing, introgression, regulatory compliance, public awareness and acceptance, and product deployment, will need to be prioritized and closely coordinated to ensure efficient and effective support to the project. The next phases will comprise biosafety testing, consumer awareness, and eventually on-farm testing, and elaboration of an appropriate seed distribution system to reach farmers in targeted countries of West Africa.

Overall Objective
This meeting will therefore review progress and achievements on product development, and elaborate and prioritize activities essential for elite event selection, trait introgresion, testing, regulatory compliance, public awareness and acceptance, and product deployment. A comprehensive workplan for 2008 - 2009 will be developed. In addition, timelines and activities for the entire project pipeline will be clarified.

Specific Objectives

1.To review progress on cowpea transformation and molecular characterization, and identify the next steps in product development, e.g., elite event selection criteria, bioassays for efficacy testing on Maruca, introgression and confined field testing.

2.To review progress regarding preparation for regulatory approvals and examine biosafety and regulatory issues associated with development and deployment of transgenic cowpea.

3.To identify issues essential for public awareness in order to develop a public acceptance strategy for transgenic cowpea in West Africa.

4.To identify challenges and constraints to seed production and delivery, in order to develop an efficient and effective product deployment mechanism and stewardship plan for transgenic cowpea in West Africa.

Expected Outputs

1.Product development workplan with objectives, milestones, activities, timelines, and budget.
2.Road map for biosafety activities and country specific regulatory approval requirements.
3.Public awareness and acceptance strategy developed, complete with objectives, milestones, activities, timelines and associated budget.
4.Product deployment strategy and stewardship plan for specific countries with objectives, activities, milestones, timeframes and budget.