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 25^th to 27^th 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;

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Dieudonne Mongane and Jeanmarie Sanginga

Zimbabwe Adding Value to Sustainable Agriculture (ZAVSAP) is a network of 9 local NGOs in Zimbabwe that promotes agro-processing, utilization and marketing of processed products among smallholder farmers of Zimbabwe. Three of the 9 member NGOs are N2Africa partners: Cluster Agriculture Development Services (CADS), Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT) and the Lower Guruve Development Association (LGDA). ZAVSAP organized a Processed Products Fair in Harare on the 15^th and 16^th of July, 2011.

Introduction

It had become a norm for smallholder farmers in Mudzi district that after harvesting their groundnuts they would struggle to get a remunerative market for their produce. In most cases, the farmers ended up selling their produce at very low prices to opportunistic buyers. The farmers were not organized implying that they lacked the capacity to negotiate with the buyers or store their produce until prices would become favorable. In addition, the farmers also did not have access to value addition options.

Dr Joseph Rusike, the N2Africa value chain specialist was in Nigeria 17th-30th July to conduct a rapid rural appraisal for legume value chain in the country. During this period, Dr Rusike met and interacted with a wide range of stakeholders in the country’s legume value chain. His survey carried him to some of the major cities within the moist savanna agro-ecological zone, such as Kano, Zaria, Kaduna, Jos, Makurdi and Abuja.

An important N2Africa milestone relating to dissemination activities is linking at least half of the participating communities to markets before the end of Year 2 (Milestone 4.3.3). In Kenya, we have undertaken this goal in a systematic manner. First the demand for soyabeans was assessed and likely buyers contacted. There are more than 40 companies in Kenya utilizing soyabean as an industrial raw material with national demand estimated at 150,000 tons per year and meeting part of this deficit offers an excellent market entry opportunity.

Click here for checklists in English and Swahili on “Best practices to maintain high yield and grain quality of soyabean”.

Click here for a useful document from the USA on the use of rhizobial inoculants.

Samson Foli, an MSc student of Wageningen University, The Netherlands, is in Kano, Nigeria on a working visit. He arrived Kano on 25th July and will be in the country up until 30th November. During his stay, Samson will conduct nutrient omission trials in greenhouse and field experiments to try to unravel the cause of non-responsiveness of soyabean to fertilisation especially of phosphorus. The study became necessary following observations of the problem in several N2Africa demonstration plots during the 2010 season.