In the last issue we announced a competition to name the N2Africa newsletter. We had more than 20 responses, but with some excellent suggestions. After careful deliberation we congratulate Professor Barbara Maasdorp, Department of Crop Science, University of Zimbabwe, for the inspiring name and we duly christen the newsletter "N2Africa Podcaster".
Ken Giller
Doricas Akeyo, a master farmer (left), and Florence Imbokha (right), a follower farmer evaluating the effect of soybean inoculation at Butere village- Western Kenya. Florence had learned from Doricas that the black powder they put on the seed just before planting was going to make the soybean have more nodules on their roots and that these nodules would help the plants grow larger and have a higher grain yield. Doricas explained that these nodules are like very small factories making nitrogen fertilizer.
Detailed farm analyses for ex-ante impact assessment of N2Africa technologies have started
People working with legumes produced by smallholder farmers in Africa know one thing very well: legumes have a great potential to improve soil fertility, productivity and resilience of African arable farming systems and to contribute to livelihoods of rural families. However, whether this potential is realised, depends on agro-ecological, socio-economic and cultural conditions.
Linus Franke
Training of Trainers (ToT) in Malawi
In Malawi 110 Lead Farmers and Agricultural extension Development officers from 5 of the 6 implementing districts were trained. Motivation was high and the project triggered much enthusiasm.
Hakeem Ajeigbe
Training of Trainers in Zimbabwe:
Following an intensive one-week training in Kisumu, West Kenya, Joram Tapfuma and Tarwireyi Kahiya recently trained a total of 240 lead-farmers and agricultural extension workers from the government and participating NGOs in eight districts in Zimbabwe from the 27th of September up to the 7th of October.
Judith de Wolf
Advanced technical skills in rhizobiology: an impression from the training course held in Nairobi last September
Patrick Ngokho and Ken Dashiell
MSc and PhD Fellowships: eleven students from five countries now receive N2Africa MSc and PhD fellowships
The most recent released and pre-release varieties of soyabean bred by Seed Co show very good rust tolerance that results in no yield loss!!
Ken Giller and Ken Dashiell