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

N2Africa Podcaster 40 Special Issue

Charlene McKoin in Ethiopia

I had a chance to discuss with Charlene a lot on legume value chain development, as this is an important "machine" to bring about a wider adoption of legumes production in the farming system. This was an unusual discussion to have with a microbiologist such as I. But having shared a common vision, it did not take for us to agree that the "market link" is an important driver in this project.

Charlene McKoin and N2Africa

Through this Special Edition of the N2Africa Podcaster we express our sincere gratitude to Charlene McKoin for all of her enthusiastic support, inspiration and friendship over the past four and a half years. Charlene has been Senior Program Officer for N2Africa at the foundation since she took over from Prem Warrior in 2013. She helped in securing the bridging grant through which N2Africa extended to Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda and, together with Vi Shukla, played a central role in the design and planning for the second phase of N2Africa.

N2Africa Podcaster 39, PhD Student Special

Nutritional benefits of improved grain legume cultivation in Ghana and Kenya

In contrast to my first PhD period within the N2Africa project, last year I spent most of my time behind my desk analysing data, discussing results with others and writing. I hope to soon share with you my first paper ‘Child’s nutritional benefits of improved grain legume cultivation in smallholder farming households in rural Ghana and Kenya’.

Grain legume residues: Livestock fatteners’ most vital feed resource in northern Ghana

Livestock fattening is one of the major occupations of the people of Bawku in the Upper East Region of Ghana. It is a business considered to be for landless people in the society. Bawku is one of the project districts of the N2Africa project. The district is highly populated and farming land is a scarce commodity.

Abundance and morphological characteristics of rhizobia nodulating common bean in Uganda

We used the plant infection technique to estimate the population of rhizobia in soils obtained from the Montane and Mt. Elgon agro-ecological zones (AEZs), focusing on three land use management practices across an elevation gradient.

Maize-grain legume intercropping: Ecological intensification to enhance resource use efficiency and crop productivity for smallholder farmers in northern Ghana

I conducted intercropping trials as key part of my PhD study, for the 2013 and 2014 seasons in the southern (Kpataribogu) and northern (Bundunia) Guinea savanna in northern Ghana. Cowpea, soyabean and groundnut were each intercropped with maize in different planting arrangements.

Exploring options to enhance biological nitrogen fixation and yield of soyabean and common bean in smallholder farming systems in Rwanda

One of my major research activities was a set of trials that evaluated the role of inoculation, P-fertilizer and manure application on common bean and soyabean yield and yield components. As part of this work, I measured nitrogen fixation in both legumes using the ¹⁵N-natural abundance method. The proportion of nitrogen derived from atmosphere (%Ndfa) differed between the two legumes (Table 1 and 2).

Assessing the need for rhizobial inoculation of cowpea in Nigeria savannas

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a major staple in Nigeria. Despite this, its yield has remained low at 450 kg ha^-1(Omotosho, 2014). Soil infertility, particularly low levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus and potassium, has been identified as one of the constraints to bridging the yield gap that exists in cowpea production (Mfillige et al., 2014). Grain legumes are normally able to meet part of their nitrogen need through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).