Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS)
The Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) is a five-year project to improve cowpea storage in West and Central Africa. The goal of the PICS project is to have 50% of the cowpea production in West and Central Africa stored using our non-chemical, triple bagging hermetic method by the year 2012. The project is being implemented in 10 different countries in West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Chad. The PICS project plans to disseminate the triple-layer sack technology in 28,000 villages in West and Central Africa. The specific objectives of this project are to:
- determine the best design for a one-piece commercially available triple-layer plastic cowpea storage bag;
- disseminate information on non-chemical cowpea storage methods to extension services, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and farmers;
- demonstrate the most effective cowpea storage methods in each village in the major cowpea areas of West and Central Africa; and
- develop supply chain for triple-layer plastic sacks to make the technology available to farmers and provide opportunities to local businesses.
This project is a joint collaborative effort involving various partners including international agricultural research centers, international development NGOs, National Agricultural Research Institutes, government agencies, local NGOs, private entrepreneurs, and farmers. At Purdue, four departments are involved: Agricultural Economics, Entomology, Food Science, and Youth Development and Agricultural Education. The PICS project is funded for $11.4 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation- www.gatesfoundation.org.
For more information about this project:
Dieudonné Baributsa: baributs@purdue.edu
http://www.ag.purdue.edu/ipia/pics/pages/home.aspx
US Borlaug Fellows in Global Food SecurityThe U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security fellowship grant program supports exceptional graduate students who are interested in developing a component of their graduate research in a developing country setting, in collaboration with a mentor from an International Agricultural Research Center or a national-level agriculture institution within the host country. Doubling Down on the Challenge of Feeding the World at Mid-Century December 15, 2011 
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This international workshop (April 16-17, 2012) will seek new perspectives from the latest research on “informal institutions,” such as social and ethical norms, in shaping policy design, adoption, and implementation with a focus on three “intractable” problems in particular that have confounded policy makers for decades: food security, women’s rights, and climate change. For more information, foodsecurity@purdue.edu Purdue World Food Prize Laureates
Gebisa Ejeta The 2009 World Food Prize was awarded to Dr. Ejeta of Ethiopia, whose sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed have dramatically increased the production and availability of one of the world's five principal grains, enhancing the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. 
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Food Security A journal for the science, sociology and economics of food production and access to food.