Project Members

Abdullahi Bala is the Inoculant Delivery Specialist and head of the West African hub of the N2Africa Project. He joined the project from the Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria, where he was an Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology and Head of the Department Soil Science. He obtained his Ph.D (Soil Microbiology) from the University of London (Wye College) in 1999. Abdullahi has about two decades of experience in teaching and research, with major interests in nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling in cereal-based production systems in the tropics. He has held several academic and administrative positions within the university, including being the Deputy Dean Faculty of Agriculture, Director Centre for Preliminary Studies and a member of the University’s Governing Council. He also has a wide range of experience and interests in the membership and management of non-governmental, community-based and professional organizations. Between 2004 and 2007, he served as a Policy Analyst with Independent Policy Group, a Presidential think-tank with focus on enhancing productivity in the Nigerian Agricultural Sector. Abdullahi has supervised more than 20 M.Sc and PhD students and has written extensively, with over forty publications in peer-reviewed journals.

I am a self-employed consultant at GeAgrofía, and guest researcher Plant Production Systems group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands. I provide spatial analytical advisory and technical services, such as environmental characterisation, socio-economic and crop modelling, statistical analysis, partner liaison, and geographical data management.

I previously worked at CIAT where I was the spatial analyst for all CIAT-Africa activities, specialising in spatial analysis of climatic variability and agricultural market chains, priority setting and targeting. I was co-leader of The Global Agricultural Trial Repository www.agtrials.org and a task force leader (2007-2008) of the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site, Sub Saharan Africa Challenge Programme.

Anthony Raymond Epel is the N2Africa Project-Uganda, Data Analyst. He holds MSc. Research Methods Degree from JKUAT-Kenya. Before joining N2Africa, he was a part-time lecturer at Kyambogo University-Kampala; where he facilitated the teaching of Biometry, Research Methodology and Computer Applications. Prior to that, Anthony was a Research Fellow at International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE-Nairobi)-Biostatistics Unit; where he worked on Analysis of Compositional data from Insect Behavioural Studies. He has worked as a research assistant at (MAAIF)-STATFA project.  He has extensive experience in working with smallholder farmers. At N2Africa, he is responsible for developing / implementing agronomic protocols, management of agronomic trials, data (collection, analyses and management), report writing, training and working with dissemination partners among others.

Aron Othieno is the N2AFrica Field Liaison Officer, Northern Uganda. He is a Soil Scientist with four years of experience in farmer participatory research. Interest is to develop and utilize knowledge in supporting and improving agricultural productivity of rural communities for sustainable livelihood, food security, poverty reduction and good health through working with research institutions, local communities and non-governmental organizations.

Research Scientist/Pastor

Charlotte Schilt is responsible for the preparation of newsletters (the N2Africa Podcaster) and project administration as member of management team for N2Africa. She is the face behind n2africa.office@wur.nl

Is the Business Development Officer, N2Africa Project-Uganda. She is a Social scientist and holds a Masters of Arts in Rural Development from Makerere University with five years of experience in facilitating Business Development Services among smallholder farmers with a focus on Agribusiness, Market Development, farmer organizational development, project implementation and Monitoring and Learning.

Interests: Reading, travelling and working with the vulnerable people

Greta van den Brand holds a MSc. in sustainable development, with a specialization in land use, environment and biodiversity. She joined N2Africa as a MSc. student in 2010, carrying out fieldwork in Malawi to find out more about the diversity among smallholder farmers and how this influences their opportunities for (improved) legume production.

In 2012 and 2013 Greta worked on the extension of N2Africa to Liberia and Sierra Leone, two countries which are in many ways different from the other countries in the project! In addition she has been and still is continuously analyzing data, developing extension materials, and giving support where needed. 

Development Practitioner

John Ssekamwa is a Field Liaison officer, Eastern Region, N₂ Africa, Uganda. He is a Soil scientist with four years of experience in farmer participatory research and agronomy. John’s interests Improvement of farmers’ livelihoods through deployment of yield enhancing technologies and to deepen my knowledge and analytical skills through interaction with farming communities and researchers  from diverse disciplines.

Judith de Wolf is the M&E Scientist of the N2Africa project based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Prior to joining the N2Africa project, she worked as a programme coordinator for a Belgian NGO, in Johannesburg, South Africa coordinating projects within the agricultural sector across South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Preceding that position, she worked as an independent consultant in Southern Africa, amongst others involved in action research, participatory rural development, capacity building and issues around land redistribution. Before that she worked as Associated Scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Malawi. Here she was engaged in social research in the Southern Africa region within ICRAF’s research and development work. While in Malawi, she also assumed the position as ICRAF project coordinator for the USAID-funded Chinyanja Triangle Project in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia for a period of 8 months. Prior to this, Judith de Wolf was employed as Research Fellow at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) as well as at the Centre d’Études d’Environnement et du Développement au Cameroun (CEDC), Maroua, Cameroon. In this capacity, she designed and implemented anthropological research analysing the impact of large-scale resettlement on farm practices and ethnic co-habitation in the Bénoué River valley, Northern Cameroon. Judith holds an MSc in rural development sociology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Linus Franke joined the Plant Production Systems group of Wageningen University in 2010. He has extensive experience with farming systems, agronomy, soil fertility, agricultural development as well as a range of modelling and statistical techniques through his work for Wageningen University, for the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in the U.K. and for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in West Africa. In the N2Africa project Linus uses a combination of biophysical and socio-economic field data and modelling techniques to conduct ex-ante assessments to target legume technologies and to predict development pathways in African farming systems. Moreover, he contributes to the monitoring and evaluation of the adoption of legumes by farmers during the project. Linus obtained an MSc in Biology from Wageningen University and a PhD degree in Agronomy from Glasgow University in the UK.

Ms. Lorraine Odhiambo is the Project Administrator for N2Africa, based in Nairobi. She is charged with handling the day to day administrative aspects of the project, working under the supervision of the Project Coordinator.

Lorraine holds a Degree in Bachelor of Arts, with a specialization in Sociology and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Business of Administration at The University of Nairobi.

She has worked with N2Africa project in both Phase I and Phase II in the same capacity. During the interface between phase 1 and 2 she worked as a Contracts Management Assistant with CIAT, based in Nairobi.

Previously, Lorraine worked with World Vision Kenya, as a Development Facilitator for a Health and HIV Project, targeting marginalized communities and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC).

https://nl.linkedin.com/in/minkestadler

Professor in Soil Ecology, and Director of Microbial Resources Centre,University of Nairobi. She has may years of  experience in BNF with legumes in SAA including managing inoculant production and use by farmers.She has also coordinated urban agriculture and it plays in ddressing food insecurity and livelihoods to the urban poor and rother elated issues  in SSA and has published widely in this subject. She is involvedinsupervising three MSc students at the  University of Nairobi ,under the N2Africa project.

Nteranya Sanginga is IITA General Director. Before this he was the Director of the Tropical Soil Biology Fertility Institute of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT-TSBF) since 2002. Prior to that he was the leader of the savanna program at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), principal scientist and head of the soil microbiology unit. From 1987 to 1989 he was a research officer at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Seibersdorf Laboratory in Vienna. A Congolese citizen, he obtained his Ph.D. (Agronomy/Soil Microbiology) in 1985 jointly by the Catholic University of Louvain Belgium and the Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Yangambi in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. N Sanginga has more than seventeen years of agricultural research and development management in Africa. He has published about 120 research articles in peer reviewed international journals and was awarded the International Foundation Sven Brohult award for his contribution to Agricultural and Agroforestry research. He has accumulated several years of research experience in tropical agriculture in the following countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (6 years), Nigeria (approx. 10 years), Austria (3 years), Zimbabwe (one year), and Belgium (one year). His research interest and activities are wide, but his current greatest interest is in applied science and agriculture, particularly in the fields of Applied Microbial Ecology, Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility. He has focused part of his career on capacity building and development of agricultural institutions in some countries in Africa Latin America and Southeast Asia       

 Racheal Nerima is the Finance/Administrative Assistant N2Africa Project-Uganda,. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and certificate in Strategic procurement and logistics Management.  Prior to joining the N2Africa, she was the Grants and Projects accountant, college of Agricultural & Environmental sciences, Makerere University; She has experience in Finance/Administration of donor funded projects. She is responsible for coordinating and providing administrative and logistical support, and maintaining financial records and budget monitoring.

Involved in follow up analyses of EIA data