Assessment of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L), Walp] Storage Technique and some Stocks Sanitary Quality in Center North Region of Burkina Faso

Cowpea plays an important role in food and nutritional security. Cowpea stock are subject to biotic and abiotic attack resulted stock lost that affected food security. Few research are doing on conservation techniques and stock sanitary quality. The objective of this work is to study the cowpea storage techniques and some stock sanitary quality according to producers and with laboratory analysis. A survey was conducted with 174 cowpea producers on storage techniques and 17 samples of cowpea were collected in stocks to determine aflatoxin B1 level and grain quality parameter according to official method. It was found that cowpea is preserved in the form of grains (98.28%), the house is the main storage structure (89.66%), the double-bottom bag is the most commonly used packaging material (57.71%), chemical substances are the most commonly used for preservation (52.19%), and pallets are generally used to furnish storage structure interior (73.56%). Insects and rodents (43.43% and 42.7% respectively) were the most encountered stock enemies and moisture (44.65%) the main abiotic spoilage factor. An AFTB1 contamination rate of 94% was found in the cowpea stocks sampled, 52.63% of which had levels above the maximum limit set by the European Commission for raw materials (2µg/kg). Correlation analysis showed a relationship between AFTB1 levels, moisture, pH, moldy kernels and kernel acidity. This study revealed that chemical product are more use to conserve cowpea and 94% of stocks sample were contaminated by aflatoxin B1 while half of them are levels above maximum limit.