The Agroforestry and Forest Ecology Research Group in the School of Agriculture and Forest Sciences at the University of Wales, Bangor has converted LEXSYS, a rich and user-friendly database of legume characteristics, to Lexsys (KBS) which incorporates all the data from earlier Microsoft FoxPro versions 1.0 and 3.0 of IITA. The software has been completely rewritten and includes a more intuitive user interface. It has been created using 'LPA Prolog' and 'LPA ProData' to allow for further development of Lexsys and to provide the capability of sharing its output with other decision based tools. Version 2-40 of LEXSYS (KBS) is available to be downloaded at their FTP site (ftp://ftp.bangor.ac.uk/pub/departments/af/LEXSYS/) together with 'Install.txt' for installation instructions. If you find any problems with the LEXSYS software please send a message to lexsys@bangor.ac.uk

CIEPCA Highlights for 2001

• For the 2001 growing season, research and development projects in Benin have bought more than 2000 kg of Mucuna (several accessions) from CIEPCA. The subsidized price of approximately $0.45 per kilogram for development projects is far from what is needed by CIEPCA to produce and certify good quality seed, but it is a good indicator of the enthusiasm of Beninese farmers, developers and researchers for mucuna cover cropping.

• The Rockefeller Foundation provided to IITA a grant to promote research on the effect of Genotype and Environment on the concentration of L-Dopa in mucuna seed and other plant parts, the objective being to decide whether either can be used to manipulate the level of this toxin and favour the use of mucuna for food and feed. The research is being implemented by researchers in 8 sites globally. Details of this activity can be found in issues number 2 and 3 of the Mucuna News.

CIEPCA Highlights for 2000

• The Rockefeller Foundation provided to IITA a grant to promote research on utilization of mucuna for food and feed. The research will be implemented by approximately 20 researchers around the world. Details of the grant activities can be found in the first issue of the Mucuna News, the project newsletter.

• A global meeting on "Food and Feed from Mucuna: Current Use, Limitations, and the Way Forward" was co-sponsored by CIDICCO, CIEPCA, and Judson College. Proceedings will be available during the latter part of 2000.

CIEPCA Highlights for 1999

• A Regional workshop on cover crops was held at IITA-Benin. The proceedings are being published by IITA in 2000; abstracts of papers presented at the workshop are available at http://www.cgiar.org/spipm/news/ccropmtg/ccrpaprs.html.

• CoverCropNet was formed by IITA with a promise of USAID AfricaLink funding to stimulate the use of information technology for agricultural research.

• An "Exploration" of cover crops issues that was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The activity, which consisted of a large number of case studies, culminated in a set of recommendations at a meeting in Bellagio, Italy.

• Funding for CIEPCA allocated by Rockefeller Foundation until November, 2001.