N2Africa | Putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Africa

Tillage and variety effects on soil moisture content, biological nitrogen fixation and soybean (Glycine max l. merril) yield in Western Kenya

A thesis submitted to the Graduate School in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Agronomy of Egerton University

Participatory development of indicators for monitoring and evaluating progress with project activities and their impact

Identifying elite rhizobia for commercial soyabean (Glycine max) inoculants

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the award of degree of Master of Science in Soil Science, department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology, University of Nairobi.

Farmer perceptions, use and profitability of Biofix® on soyabean (Glycine Max) production in Western Kenya

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Science degree in Sustainable Soil Resource Management of the University of Nairobi

The end of a year is always busy – and this year especially so for N2Africa. While we work on the final reporting on many milestones and on the consolidated report of Phase I of the N2Africa project, we are winding up for Phase II. Adverts for the staff positions are posted on the website – and Phase II officially starts on the 1st January 2014. Please help us to circulate these as widely as possible. The success of N2Africa depends on pulling together a winning team!

MSc students doing field research in the Usambara Mountains, northern Tanzania

Jori Langwerden and Elise Bressers, two MSc students from Amsterdam and Wageningen, are currently working in the Usambara Mountains, northern Tanzania. The Usambara Mountains are an important bean growing area because of its favourable climatic conditions and natural resources. However, many of the production areas are located on steep slopes which are intensively cultivated and highly degraded over the last couple of years.

From humble beginnings: LegumeTechnology UK Ltd.

Following on from a visit by Dr Mahamadhi Dianda (IITA) to LegumeTechnology in June this year to learn about quality control methods, I met with Dr Bruce Knight at his factory near Nottingham in the UK to discuss his involvement in Phase II of N2Africa. LegumeTechnology manufactures high quality, zero contamination inoculants for markets throughout the world, and consistently achieves the N2Africa AA standard. Part of our discussions focused on the next generation of equipment to produce top quality inoculants in small packets.

Some similarities between the development of the inoculant market in Uruguay and Africa

During March 2012, while surfing the web for information about inoculants in Africa, I read in N2Africa Podcaster # 12 that "the N2Africa proposed strategy suggested was "to import high quality inoculants, and focus on ensuring an effective supply chain for inoculants in the areas where N2Africa is working until we know that there is sufficient demand to warrant local production". I wrote an email to Dr. Ken Giller offering him samples for trials and since then we have been mailing from time to time.

Symbiotic effectiveness of indigenous Bradyrhizobia strains and strategies to maximize the contribution of Biological Nitrogen Fixation on soyabean in Mozambique

In August 2012 Amaral Chibeba started his PhD research in Mozambique under the supervision of Dr. Mariangela Hungria (Embrapa), Dr. Maria de Fátima Guimarães (Universidade Estatual de Londrina) and Dr. Stephen Boahen (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)

We enjoy sharing the summary of his study.