I expect that many readers of the N2Africa podcaster would readily answer ‘no’ to that question. However in spite of knowing that land area estimates can be unreliable, N2Africa and other agricultural development projects often rely on estimates of plot areas, and that on top of estimates of crop yield. We may have no other choice if we want a lot of data, preferably for multiple (past) seasons, for several crops in different countries.

Introduction: Soyabean is an important crop in Nigeria, that has gradually evolved to be a crucial cash crop for rural households in the Nigerian Savannas due to its rising industrial demand. Nigeria is the second largest producer of soyabean after South Africa producing 700,000 Mt of soyabean per year. Despite its growing importance in the Nigeria savannas, soyabean yields are low due to several production constraints including poor soil fertility with emphasis on phosphorus, intermittent drought and low biological nitrogen fixation by adapted varieties.

Cowpea is an important food legume that is well-adapted to the semi-arid regions of the tropics. The bacteria nodulating cowpea exhibit a large diversity which has been reported in different regions of the world. Little is known about the rhizobia nodulating cowpea in Mozambican soils. In this study ERIC-PCR was used to characterise cowpea rhizobia. This method allowed us to distinguish 20 groups at a similarity level of 20%, indicating a high genomic diversity for the native rhizobial populations in the two agroecological zones.

• Intermediate Maturing Soybean Produce Multiple Benefits at 1:2 Maize:Soybean Planting Density by Margarida G. Simbine, Frederick P. Baijukya and Richard N.

• N2Africa in northern Ghana;
• N2Africa annual report 2019;
• MSc thesis Understanding the role of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) cultivation by smallholder farmers in northern Uganda by Els van der Spek;
• MSc report

FCRN linked to The story of N2Africa in their Fodder entry.

• Icrisat news: Scientists: ‘Partnering with farmers crucial for saving degraded lands’;
• SeedSystems blogs: The Private Sector’s Role In Getting Improved Seeds To Farmers and Improved Seeds For Farmers To Generate 25 Million Metric Tonnes Of Food;