From 22-26 October, for the first time and all the way (from microbes to markets), the world of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) was captured in six themes: Starting with (1) advancing plant-microbe interactions we then moved to the field scale in (2) enhancing BNF in smallholders and to a broader level of (3) exploring options for intensification and diversification of farming systems and (4) identifying bottlenecks for implementation of ISFM.

"You’ll enjoy seeing the N2A legume trial in Lofa County", I was told. It’s in the northeast, close to the Sierra Leone border only 240km from Gbarnga in the center of the country where I was staying. It was the (very) rainy season and the narrow dirt road, the only route to these parts was heavily wash boarded, potholed and blocked in a number of places by large transport trucks efficiently excavating extremely deep ruts in the muddy surface as they tried in vain to force a way through. Engineer battalions from the UN force worked hard to keep the road open.

Something beyond the traditional farming experience in Sierra Leone is being introduced to let farmers benefit from grain legume crops. The common practice upon which the farming of these crops had been centred lacked maximum productivity and did not focus on nutritional and economic values. With the introduction of the N2Africa Project, however, these setbacks and disadvantages will soon become an experience of the past.

On the 2nd of May, 2012, a commissioning ceremony for the renovated greenhouse was held at the Soil Productivity Research Laboratory (SPRL) in Marondera. The renovations were funded by N2Africa and implemented by Blackpuck (pvt) Ltd.

A total of 15 participants attended this event representing N2Africa, CIAT, the Ministry of Public Works, Blackpuck and the Chemistry and Soil Research Institute (CSRI) from the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS).

The First International Conference on Global Food Security, that will take place from 29 September till 2 October 2013 in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, aims to deliver state-of-the-art analysis, inspiring visions and innovative research methods arising from interdisciplinary research.

Join this exciting opportunity to ensure that the best science is garnered to support the emergence of the Sustainable Development Goals.

We received the announcement that The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) will be co-hosting the Pedometrics 2013 conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

The call for papers is now open and abstracts can be submitted at https://sites.google.com/a/cgxchange.org/pedometrics2013/.

We would appreciate some feedback from you, the readers of the Podcaster; about what goes well, what goes not so well and what we could do better in our communication. To keep you better informed about the ‘Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa’.

You will receive soon an email from the online "Survey Monkey". It will not take much time to respond to the questions and your responses really will help our understanding. Thank you.

We recently submitted, (on time!), a progress report to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As it said in the introduction, the report is, "the product of the countless hours spent by Field Liaison Officers, Agronomists, Rhizobiologists, Research Assistants and students in African fields, farms and laboratories: and a testament to the support of our numerous in country partners and smallholder farmers with which we are all privileged to work." This was our month 30 report.