A farmer's primer on growing soybean on riceland and A farmer's primer on growing cowpea on riceland . R. K. Pandey. International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines, and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria. Soybeans and cowpeas are high-value, nutritious crops that have great potential to fit into the ricebased cropping systems that dominate tropical agriculture. To realize the full yield potential of soybeans and cowpeas, farmers must know how the plants grow, their critical growth stages, and how to prevent stress at each stage.
Literature is available on growing the crops, especially soybeans, in temperate zones.
But little has been published on the whys and hows of growing soybeans and cowpeas in the tropics. Dr. Pandey, an agronomist with IRRl's Rice Farming Systems Program, wrote the highly illustrated books to help small-scale farmers in the tropics increase their productivity and income. The new primers are also intended for extension workers and students. But a soybean crop can generate farm income in the off-season after the rice harvest, and help break the pest and disease cycle associated with continuous rice cropping. Soybeans are also an excellent source of protein and edible oil, and a raw material for the food and livestock feed industries.