While many N2Africa staff in some countries, both in Africa and elsewhere, taking hard-earned vacations, others are in full swing of the cropping season. That’s the nature of such a broadly-based project as N2Africa – there are always exciting things happening. Fred Kanampiu and I have just returned from a visit to Tanzania with senior staff from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which we report on below. It’s always invigorating to discuss with N2Africa farmers and other stakeholders and understand their opportunities and how they are tackling difficulties they encounter. We’re very grateful to Freddy Baijukya, the N2Africa Coordinator for Tanzania and his staff for organising a full and diverse programme for us.
In this Podcaster we are delighted to announce that two rhizobial inoculants, Biofix of MEA, Kenya and LEGUMEFiX of Legumetechnology, UK have been formally registered for distribution in Tanzania. Congratulations to Freddy Baijukya and Cargele Masso of COMPRO for pushing this through. We also just heard that Legumetechnology have obtained registration for LEGUMEFiX in Kenya so things are really moving on the inoculant front! We have updates on staff changes, research on human nutrition in Ghana, on a new soyabean innovation platform in Tanzania, on N2Africa’s partnership with ‘Women for Women – WfW’ an NGO in DRC, on new tools for data collection and the intranet portal, and on prizes received for excellent demonstrations at agricultural show in Kenya. Finally – on a less positive note please read carefully a short article I just wrote on "predatory open access journals" which are causing us problems!
For those who are off on leave we wish you all a pleasant and relaxing time – come back refreshed!
Ken Giller