Cowpea and Groundnut Haulms Fodder Trading and Its Lessons for Multidimensional Cowpea Improvement for Mixed Crop Livestock Systems in West Africa.

Cowpea is an important legume crop in Africa, valued highly for its grain and also haulms, which are a tradable commodity in fodder markets. Fodder market surveys in Northern Nigeria showed that groundnut haulms were priced higher than cowpea haulms, probably because of their superior nutritive value. The economic value of haulms has prompted cowpea breeders and livestock nutritionists to explore haulm fodder traits as additional selection and breeding criteria.