Source: CSIRO Media Release – 25 November 2020

Professor Toby Walsh and Dr TJ Higgins from CSIRO have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)…

Dr Higgins has spent the latter part of his career working with an international team of researchers to protect cowpeas from the damaging legume pod-borer.

Cowpeas or black-eyed peas are a major source of protein for 200 million people in West Africa, sometimes referred to as ‘poor-man’s meat’.

Through breeding the Bt gene into cowpea, Dr Higgins and his African colleagues have given the plant its own built in insect protection.

In late 2019 the first insect-resistant cowpea variety was approved in Africa.

[Dr Higgins is the Chair of ABCA’s Expert Scientific Panel.]