Contrary to the general belief that organically produced crops cannot match with the pace of our growing population toward sustainable food security, a research finding has confirmed that cowpea now got an organic pesticide to its commercial production. This was contained in a number 8 monograph, 2018 of the best practices in organic Agriculture production system.
In
the monograph, it was revealed that neem oil mixed with local soap at a live
organic term at Ago owu, Osun state, Nigeria has been confirmed as an effective
pest repellent to control cowpea popular disease in Nigeria that is impeding
its commercial production.
The
report stated that, “the high susceptibility of cowpea to pest has been a major
constraint preventing farmers from cultivating cowpea under organic production
system. However, it was recently reported that neem oil, a bio pesticide
effectively controlled pest in cowpea production.
It was said that farmer in Ago Owu farm
applied neem oil at the rate of 15ml to 1 litre of water while local block soap
was added to ensure proper mixing. The result revealed that neem oil controlled
pest attack effectively in cowpea production and it can be a reliable bio
pesticide for organic cowpea production.
Also the research work encourage crop rotation for soil fertility adding that this find could encourage the introduction of cowpea as a component of crop rotation scheme by organic farmers in a bid to improve the soil fertility.
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