We are sad to pass on the news that Herman Potgieter of Soygro (Pty) Ltd, Potchefstroom, South Africa passed away in a car accident on 1st of September. We have lost a key colleague who was committed to the promotion of rhizobial inoculants in Africa. Our heartfelt condolences go to all of his family and friends. 

Ken Giller

A strong vote of thanks to all the partners who hosted our N2Africa team during late September/October when Ken Dashiell, Abdullahi Bala, Robert Abaidoo and I toured the field in northern Ghana and Nigeria. It was humbling to experience the importance attached to our visit by the farmer groups, NGO and government partners who were clearly not used to receiving guests. The enthusiastic interest of the farmers convinces me that we are in a prime position to make massive impact through our work in this region.

In the latest issue of the New Agriculturalist which has a special focus on soils there is a feature highlighting N2Africa. See: Helping legumes become Africa's nitrogen factories

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

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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 27^th of September up to the 7^th of October. 

Judith de Wolf

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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