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Earlier this month I had the privilege to visit N2Africa activities in the north of Uganda together with Peter Ebanyat (Uganda Country Coordinator), Aron Othieno (Field Liaison Officer) and Connetie Ayesiga (Business Development Officer). Together with World Vision Uganda, our major partner in the region, we visited a number of farmer groups and other stakeholders.
Photo: Members of the Acinango Farmers’ Group, Apac, Uganda in their dazzling uniforms
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| Obituary |
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It is with regret that we announce the demise of Dr David Icishahayo, who was a Lecturer in the Crop Science Department at the University of Zimbabwe. He passed away on 20 July 2016 at St Giles Medical Rehabilitation in Harare, where he was recovering after he had suffered a stroke three weeks earlier. David joined the University of Zimbabwe as a Research Assistant in 1999, having arrived in the country from Rwanda/Burundi as a refugee.
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| Thanks from youth farmers Nigeria |
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Mr M.M. Onimago thanks Malete Youth Integrated Agriculture Training Farm Centre, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (N2Africa), 2SCALE and Hybrid Agro Business Consult HABC Kwara on behalf of the Kwara youth farmers in Nigeria.
The youth farmers are delighted for the support received. Last year, Kwara youth farmers produced 2.9 tons of soyabean ha-1, using new technologies and knowledge. At the moment, farmers are planting 120 ha of soyabean and 120 ha of maize, groundnut, cowpea and cassava at the Oke-Oyi youth farm settlement.
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| N2Africa early impact survey across eight countries |
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Designing development-to-research approaches that support positive changes in livelihoods of farmers require actions that are based on solid project evaluations and impact studies. The N2Africa project evaluations are based on the results framework and distinguish results on activities, outputs and outcomes. This framework has been used on an annual basis to monitor and evaluate progress and foster learning (Podcaster 36). ...
Figure: Average change in total legume (bean, cowpea, groundnut and soyabean) area per farm (ha) per country
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| N2Africa legume varieties spread through communities through farmer-to-farmer diffusion |
At the end of N2Africa phase I, we looked at the ‘early impact’ of the project. Next to a number of surveys among farmers, agro-dealers, partners, we also carried out several case studies. One of these case studies involved an effort to explore to what extent the legume varieties disseminated by N2Africa through demonstration trials had spread beyond the farmers directly involved in the project. ...
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| N2Africa research design to manage factors affecting adoption of grain legume technologies |
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N2Africa is scaling-out grain legume technologies, practices and models to benefit smallholder farmers in multiple, diverse and heterogeneous contexts of sub-Saharan Africa. ...
Left: Part of the table showing operationalisation of N2Africa research design
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| PROIntensAfrica stakeholder workshops to identify priority areas for research in Kenya and Ghana; What role for legumes in sustainable agricultural intensification? |
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Last year, N2Africa was selected as one of the six in-depth case studies within the PROIntensAfrica Initiative (www.intensafrica.org). PROIntensAfrica aims to build a long-term research and innovation partnership between Africa and the European Union, focusing on the improvement of food and nutrition security through sustainable intensification. Since N2Africa’s selection as case study, ...
Figure 2. Lively discussions between farmers, researchers and NGO’s in Tamale, northern Ghana
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| First place prizes for WeRATE in Kenya - Trophies for ‘Best agro-based processing’ and ‘Best NGO exhibit’ |
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The Western Region Agriculture Technology Evaluation (WeRATE) is the main N2Africa outreach partner in Kenya and presented an award-winning exhibit at the recently concluded Agriculture Society of Kenya (ASK) Kakamega Show (June 16th-18th, 2016). ...
Photo: Trophies presented by Busia Governor Sospeter Ojamong
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| Recent publications from the Kenya action site |
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The country team in Kenya has produced three recent publications that may interest N2Africa partners in other countries. These publications include an article within an open access scientific journal, a book chapter on our Innovation Platform and a widely-distributed 48-page extension booklet covering our outreach operations:
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| Reports and other output uploaded on the N2Africa website |
Five reports by N2Africa, two reports in collaboration with PROIntensAfrica, three MSc theses and one MSc Internship report have been uploaded. ...
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| Related publications |
Soyabean booklet in Afan Oromo (among the widely spoken languages in Ethiopia), produced in collaboration with project partners (OARI, 2SCALE, and Guts Agro).
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| Related newsletters |
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| Announcements |
The 2016 Brian Chambers award is open to researchers in crop nutrition: £2,000 in prizes!
The International Fertiliser Society is again running the Brian Chambers award. Researchers working in both academic and extension organisations are encouraged to take part. The 2016 award is now open for submissions, and will remain open until September 15th, 2016.
Detailed information can be found at http://fertiliser-society.org/about-us/brianchambersaward.
7th International Nitrogen Conference (INI 2016), Victoria, Australia. 04 – 08 December 2016
The conference’s over-arching theme – Solutions to improve nitrogen use efficiency for the world – aims to address "The Nutrient Nexus" of reducing nutrient losses while producing food and energy for all of our human family.
For more information see http://www.ini2016.com.
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