As indicated above, the Tier 1 countries are the six countries other than Ghana and Nigeria, that participated in the N2Africa project from the start. The country coordinators for these countries are:
Lloyd Phiphira (Malawi)
Lloyd Burton Phiphira is a holder of an MSc (1998) degree in Pest Management from the University of London, Imperial College of Science, Medicine & Technology, UK. He obtained his BSc degree (1993) in Agriculture (Crop Science) from Bunda College of the University of Malawi. For the past 20 years, he has worked as a Crop (Coffee) Protection Officer at Tea Research Foundation (Central Africa) - Coffee Research Unit; at Agricultural Research Trust (ARET) as an Entomologist and as a Land Acquisition and Farm Development Manager with a World Bank funded project in Malawi. He was instrumental in assisting more than 15,000 landless/land-poor families relocate and acquire land for farming purposes. He is currently serving as a Country Coordinator for N2Africa Project in Malawi.
Contact: L.Phiphira@cgiar.org, Mob: +265 888 892 261.
Regis Chikowo (Zimbabwe)
Regis is a soil scientist by training, with BSc and MPhil Degrees from the University of Zimbabwe and a PhD from Wageningen University. Over the past several years, he has carried out basic and applied research on nutrient management on smallholder farms, largely in southern African countries of Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Approaches that integrate legumes to tap into the benefits of biological N2-fixation to sustain production on low-input smallholder farms have been core his investigations. He also integrates crop production systems modeling to study complex farming systems. Through Michigan State University, where he is a Research Associate, Regis is also the Malawi Country Coordinator for the AfricaRISING project, a research initiative under the USAID Feed the Future Program. AfricaRISING has a strong emphasis on grain legumes for maize-based cropping systems, and there is a natural synergy with the N2Africa project. Regis enjoys teaching - from the basics of soil chemistry to the principles of crop production!
Contact: regisChikowo@yahoo.co.uk.
Speciose Kantengwa (Rwanda)
Speciose is a sociologist, with specialization in Environment & Sustainable Development, and Gender. She has a strong background in agriculture, a long experience in seed systems, technology transfer, situation analysis, project management, development of extension messages, and capacity building for farmers’ organizations. She joined N2Africa Rwanda in 2010, as a Farm Liaison Officer.
Contact: S.Kantengwa@cgiar.org.
Wilson Leonardo (Mozambique)
Wilson’s PhD research at Wageningen University focused on exploring the possibilities and limitations to improve land and labour productivities of smallholder farming systems in Central Mozambique. In 2007 he obtained his Master’s Degree in Plant Science from Wageningen University. In 2001 he was graduated as a Bachelor of Plant Production and Protection at the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. He worked for International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics from 2001 to 2008 as scientific officer, before he joined Wageningen University for his PhD in 2009. From February 2014 Wilson was hired by IFDC Mozambique as senior agronomist in a joint position with N2Africa as the Mozambique Country Coordinator.
Contact: wleonardo@ifdc.org.
Paul Woomer (Kenya)
Paul Lester Woomer holds a PhD in Agronomy and Soil Science awarded by the University of Hawaii in 1990 for his work on the introduction of rhizobia to tropical soils. For the past 24 years, he has lived and worked in Africa on projects designed to deliver improved land management technologies to smallholder farmers. He led the development of the MPNES computer program for estimating rhizobial populations in soils, was co-founder of the UNESCO Rhizobium Ecology Network of East and Southern Africa, designed the MBILI maize-legume intercropping technology and examined the role of grain legumes in integrated striga management technologies. Currently he serves as the Kenya Country Coordinator in the N2Africa Program. Paul also serves as the Tier 1 Rhizobiologist and assists in the development of the Nodumax inoculant factory in Nigeria.
Contact: plwoomer@gmail.com.
Jean Marie Sanginga (DR Congo)
Jean Marie Sanginga Matabaro has a MSc in Agricultural and Environment from the Université Evangélique en Afrique (UEA), DRC, Gestion durable de sol. He worked in agricultural research in an international environment and with the African rural communities and has experience with employers of private and national and international research institutions like FHI (Food for Hungry International) and CEE (Communauté Économique Européenne) in the implementation of agricultural programs, monitoring and evaluation of agricultural programs in rural community, with UN agencies for WFP (Word Food Program) in the development of agricultural programs, monitoring food distributions to vulnerable populations. Further he worked in various projects for CIAT TSBF in the CIALCA project (2005 – 2009) and in N2Africa as Agronomist research assistant and Focal point N2Africa DRC. He also worked with other national research institutions in the sub regions like Inera in DRC, Usabu in Burundi, Isar in Rwanda and did international research in the sub-region of the Great Lakes. He is coauthor of scientific papers and author of posters and abstracts for international conferences.
Contact: sangingajeanmarie@yahoo.fr, Tel. +2439998666101.