N2Africa participates in the eighth National Agriculture Fair

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N2Africa Project participated in the National Agriculture Fair which was organized by the Malawi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The fair was held in Blantyre City from 25th to 27th of August 2011. The agriculture fair was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Malawi, Ngwazi Professor Bingu wa Mutharika.

At the fair, whose theme was ‘Value Addition for Increased Economic Returns’, N2Africa showcased amongst other things the following item:

N2Africa Project activities;

Under grain legume processing, the foods that were prepared were; 

  • Cowpea products: Cowpea and cassava stew, dried cowpea leaves with groundnut flour, basic cowpea stew, steamed cowpea snacks and fried cowpea snacks.
  • Groundnut products: glazed groundnuts.
  • Bean products: bean sprouts
  • Soyabean products: soyabean milk and soya crunchies.

N2Africa also displayed plants of soybean cowpea and common bean in pots for farmers and all to see. N2Africa booklets (“Biological Nitrogen Fixation and Grain Legume Enterprise: Guidelines for N2Africa Master Farmers” and “Grain Legume Processing Handbook: Value Addition to Bean, Cowpea, Groundnut and Soyabean by Small-Scale African Farmers”) were also showcased.

 Figure 1: the IITA Malawi team at the Agriculture Fair

The N2Africa booth attracted over 250 people. The second day was Farmers’ Day when farmers are brought to the agriculture fair by organizations. Farmers wanted to learn more on the availability of different soybean varieties. They were also interested in the diversity in the grain legume foods that were prepared and most people did not know that bean sprouts are edible and that cowpea could be prepared in so many different ways. 

Gloria Kasongo