Since 2010, I have worked on developing soybean varieties with improved nutritional value and high yield. My passion for soybean research earned me a fellowship––the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship––at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research (BecA-ILRI) Hub.

Through this fellowship, I am conducting in-depth analyses of five soybean varieties released by Makerere University and 95 elite soybean lines for different nutritional properties.

Owing to its increased use as human food and animal feed, soybean has great economic potential, which I want to help smallholder farmers in East Africa exploit. I am looking for a fast way of introducing good nutritional properties to existing soybean varieties and hope to develop high yielding, nutritionally superior lines.

Containing approximately 40 percent protein, 20 percent oil and an ideal supply of essential amino acids and nutrients, soybean grains are the world’s largest source of animal protein feed and the second largest source of vegetable oil globally. Aside from their significance as food and livestock feed, the crop improves soil fertility by fixing nitrogen and enhancing moisture retention.

Between 2006 and 2009, earnings from the crop in Uganda rose by 288 percent, but despite the economic opportunities in production and processing, factories established to process soybean oil and soy-based products across East Africa lack adequate raw material to run at full capacity. Furthermore, increased awareness by oil consumers has increased the demand for soybean oil as they seek more nutritious alternatives.

Through my research at the BecA-ILRI Hub and my home institution, Makerere University, I hope to contribute significantly bridging the supply gap and increasing the global competitive edge of locally produced soybean.

About Tony Obua:
Tony Obua is a researcher at Makerere University in Uganda. He is currently conducting research on genetic improvement of oil quality and yield of soybean in Uganda at the BecA-ILRI Hub as an ABCF research fellow.

Read more about the ABCF fellowship program

Agricultural production is a key driver of economic growth for most of sub-Saharan Africa. It has the potential to boost economic development by improving food and nutritional security, providing employment to youth, promoting trade and generally improving livelihoods.

Agriculture under siege

However, this ‘goose that lays the golden eggs’ is plagued with challenges ranging from diseases, parasites, pests, drought, post-harvest losses and lack of access to markets. As such, many countries have experienced a decline, rather than increase in agricultural production and revenues associated with sale of agricultural products over the years.

Some of the problems can simply be addressed by educating farmers on good farming practices. Other challenges are solved through research and implementing of research findings. This requires transfer of knowledge, skills and technologies generated through research, to the farmers, often hampered by a disconnect between the farmer and the scientist.

Through the use of ICT, the distance between scientists globally is being bridged. The ability to share information and work collaboratively on virtual platforms has been made possible by online platforms specially designed to drive these conversations. Among such platforms that I have used are Agshare.Today and Yammer, which have been adapted to co-ordinate root and tuber crops, viruses and vectors research. The platforms connect scientists from different countries working on similar projects and enables them to share information they generate, get access to information they need, safely store research data and communicate their findings.

However, there is an urgent need to speed up the flow of information from researchers or extension workers to farmers and vice versa. A common platform that brings together farmers, scientists, extension officers, traders and other players in agriculture would narrow the existing gaps and potentially increase uptake of new technologies.

ICT to the rescue?

The relative affordability of mobile phones and the improving telecommunications networks in rural Africa have already resulted in evident economic benefits and mass social mobilization. The same technology availing access to vast databases by individuals seeking or sharing information on diverse topics like health, politics, news, markets and agriculture can be applied more effectively to get conversations going between farmers and scientists.

An agriculture-telecentre could facilitate information and knowledge sharing among farmers and the various groups of scientists and development specialists working to improve agricultural production. The platform could be used not only to transmit research findings, but also to receive information from farmers.

The existing technologies could be better applied to areas like disease and pest management, where detailed information such as number of affected plants, radius within which the problem occurs and severity of symptoms along with pictures from farmers, can support experts in assessing the severity of an outbreak and providing possible solutions. Additionally, extension services can relay information on where farmers can easily access the relevant agro-inputs like pesticides, fungicides and how to mix and apply these products.

I envision agriculture-telecentres being used as tools for surveillance of crop and livestock diseases, market information, weather patterns, and production trends of individual farmers. In this way, ICT can be used to overcome challenges associated with limited agricultural extension services, a scenario that is common in many rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Read related article: Being social could help your science

Gabriela Chavez poses with a cassava farmer in Kisumu, Kenya

I joined the Cassava Virus Evolution Project to study the most economically important disease in cassava in Africa. Like me, the cassava is indigenous to South America, but is now widely cultivated and adopted in Africa where it became one of the major crops for human consumption.

Cassava is a fascinating crop that is able to grow under drought conditions, high temperature, and poor soil conditions. However, its production in Africa is severely limited by viral diseases. The begomoviruses that cause Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) have a long evolutionary history in Africa, including the recent pandemic that spread across Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s and 2000s.

At the BecA-ILRI Hub I am studying how the whitefly influences the evolution of Cassava mosaic begomovirus (CMBs). Together with colleagues, I am analyzing the genetic makeup of a colony of whiteflies collected from the western part of Kenya in Kisumu and Lake Victoria surroundings. This is a critical component of the project because whiteflies exhibit an extremely high rate of differences within the species.

Working in Africa has been a life-changing multicultural experience. I have learnt that Africa is not all about catastrophes or poor infrastructure highlighted in news, but that there is on-going cutting-edge research and high-end technologies. I have also enjoyed the contemporary Kenyan music in English, Swahili and various local languages with intricate melodies that borrow from different styles of music from around the globe. I am also impressed with Kenyans’ ambitions and their spirit of entrepreneurship.

Roger Pelle, BecA-ILRI Hub principal scientist stresses a point during the Science Communication workshop

Communicating research findings to the general public is increasingly becoming a necessary part of being a scientist. However, the skills to do this are not intuitive to scientists, who have been trained in research methodologies, analytical skills, and the ability to communicate with other scientists. This hurdle is one that the team at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI) Hub sought to overcome as they underwent an intensive science communication course.

‘We have a lot of knowledge in the labs but we don’t get it out for people to appreciate and accept’ said Appoliniare Djikeng, the BecA-ILRI Hub director, at the start of the two-day workshop conducted by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) AfriCenter.

Djikeng acknowledged that ineffective outreach could be a contributing factor to researchers not attracting funding from national budgets. ‘We have not made the case for policy makers to appreciate that what we are doing is useful to them’, he said.

During the training that took place on June 28 and 29 at ILRI’s Nairobi campus, the BecA-ILRI Hub team was joined by researchers from the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) working on the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) project. While giving an overview of the VIRCA project, field implementing coordinator Hannington Obiero remarked that effective communication is key to the project’s success.

‘We are here to acquire the communication skills needed to complement VIRCA’s research and ensure that our findings are adopted by the end-user’ said Obiero.

Margaret Karembu, Director ISAAA AfriCenter, thanked the researchers for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend the training, stating that it was a testament to their commitment to communicating effectively with all their audiences. She lauded their passion for seeking solutions to help African farmers and encouraged them to ensure that their work was well communicated and impacted the very people they work hard for.

The course familiarized participants with various strategies to engage policy makers, the media and the public at large. At the end of the training, participants had learnt how to identify their audiences and develop audience-specific messages.Roger Pelle, a Principal Scientist at the BecA-Hub appreciated the participatory approach to the training which included practical sessions on the use social media for science communication and mock media interviews.

Anne Muiruri – APTECA program coordinator at the BecA-ILRI Hub (photo: BecA-ILRI Hub/Alnoor Abdulla)

The Aflatoxin Proficiency Testing and Control in Africa (APTECA) program hosted by the mycotoxin diagnostics platform at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub is contributing to the availability of safe maize on the African market.

The program, managed by the Texas A&M University, USA, was initiated to support the commercial maize milling sector in Kenya through a public-private partnership. Cereal millers which participate in the voluntary program manage aflatoxin risk by improving their quality systems to accurately perform their own tests for aflatoxins in maize flour.

Proficiency testing program

Participation in the APTECA program improves testing accuracy through qualification of the mill’s laboratory analysts; use of working controls with a known level of aflatoxin; routine proficiency testing; and verification of mill results by the ISO accredited Texas A&M AgriLife laboratory housed at the BecA-ILRI Hub.

In 2015, 31 laboratory analysts from commercial mills across Kenya attended training and qualified to analyse maize flour using validated aflatoxin testing platforms. These qualified individuals analyse working control samples twice a week at their respective mills to ensure testing accuracy and results are evaluated using a statistical process control charting technique. Further verification of mills’ aflatoxin test results of finished product occurs at the Texas A&M AgriLife laboratory at the BecA-ILRI Hub and results are sent to the APTECA mills to assist in quality improvement and aflatoxin risk management.

Already, APTECA has hosted five proficiency testing exercises involving 30 industry and public sector laboratories. The companies involved in the project include Osho Grain Millers; Unga Holdings; Alpha Mills; Capwell Industries; Kabansora Millers; Kenblest Group; Maisha Flour Mills; Mombasa Maize Millers; Pembe Flour Mills; Premier Group; and United Millers all from Kenya.

Co-regulation

The APTECA research is part of an effort to explore co-regulation of aflatoxin as a regulatory risk-management policy alternative with the aim of improving food safety and facilitating trade in Africa. Co-regulation involves a government-private sector partnership in regulation that includes statutory or government-backed codes of practice combined with regulatory and industry oversight. A marketing study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Western Michigan University in collaboration with Texas A&M AgriLife explored the impact on sales of marketing products branded with a logo on packages of maize meal stating ‘Aflatoxin Tested Process Verified by APTECA.’ This logo conforms to the East African Community labelling requirements and AgriLife has received trademark approval for it from the Kenya Intellectual Property Institute.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Kenya regulatory authority, accreditation of the AgriLife laboratory activities by the Kenya Accreditation Service, and training regulatory chemists from six countries and nine agencies has helped lay the groundwork for a regional public-private sector partnership to manage aflatoxin risk and facilitate trade among countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Jacinta Akol receives the ‘Pat Coursey’ award from Keith Tomlins, president of the International Society for Tropical Root Crops (ISTRC). Looking on is Claude Fauqet, co-founder of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21 Century (GCP2) (photo: WCRTC)

During the First World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops (RTCs) meeting that took place in China from 18–22 January 2016, Akol was awarded the Pat Coursey prize in recognition of her contribution to research on yams in Uganda.

The research done on this under-studied, underutilized food crop by Akol through an Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund fellowship. Akol reiterated the impact of the fellowship at the BecA-ILRI Hub in defining her scientific goals and giving her career more focus.

‘While at the Hub, I was able to sharpen my skills in networking, adoption of modern scientific techniques and most importantly effective communication,’ said Akol. ‘This has really boosted my confidence and profile as a scientist’ she added.

Akol stated that the BecA-ILRI Hub is an extremely significant investment in raising agricultural research in the region.

‘At the BecA-ILRI Hub, science leaders who will improve the face of agriculture in Africa are being created,’ she said. ‘It is important that African governments support such organizations which exist to support our national agricultural research systems,’ she added.

Root and tuber crops, including yams, cassava, sweet potato, potato, cocoyams and other root crops are important to agriculture and food security of more than 100 countries. In Uganda, yam is increasingly gaining importance as a source of income for smaller holder farmers.

The RTCs congress aims at raising awareness of the importance of the RTCs in the world. It reviews scientific progress; identifies new opportunities; and sets priorities to tackle challenges including finding the resources to support research and development in areas where it is currently inadequate or lacking.

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About the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund

The Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF), managed by the BecA-ILRI Hub, provides fellowships to scientists and graduate students from African national agricultural research systems to undertake biosciences research-for-development projects at the BecA-ILRI Hub. The ABCF fellowship program develops capacity for agricultural biosciences research in Africa; supports research projects that ultimately contribute towards increasing food and nutritional security or food safety in Africa; and facilitates access to cutting-edge research facilities by African researchers.

In addition to great diversity, African livestock includes species which possess attributes that give them resilience to diseases and other stresses that present a challenge to livestock production. During the fourth session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) AgTalks, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub director Appolinaire Djikeng gave his perspective on a fresh approach to livestock production which will help poor and vulnerable farming households in Africa climb up the livestock ladder out of poverty.

The N’dama cattle of West Africa are known to be trypanotolerant, and as such are able to populate tsetse fly infested regions of the continent where the tick-borne trypanosomiasis disease poses a significant challenge to livestock keeping. Still in West Africa, the prolific dwarf goat which produces up to four kids in one kidding has proved to be a great asset to smallholder farmers, enabling them to build large flocks for quick access to financial resources and nutrition. The Red Maasai sheep which are indigenous to East Africa possess resistance to endoparasites and thrive in very challenging arid environments, common in sub Saharan Africa.

In this nine minute video, Djikeng draws lessons from his childhood experience of the difference it made to own Cameroon’s unique ‘ugly’ pig during an Africa swine fever outbreak to address the issue of providing better opportunities for smallholder farming communities by utilizing the diversity of livestock as well as developing alternative livestock production systems in Africa.

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Read the full transcript here: http://ifad.org/agtalks/apollinaire.htm

Read related story here: Livestock, a lifeline for smallholder farmers

Albernus Mulwa harvests Brachiaria grass at his farm in Machakos County, eastern Kenya
(photo: Nation Media Group\ Sarah Ooko).

The meat and milk production of a cow is only as good as the feed it gets. Through a project led by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub, dairy farmers in the semi-arid regions of Kenya are discovering that Brachiaria, the grass which transformed the livestock industries of Brazil and Australia, can turnaround their low production levels.

Brachiaria grasses are highly nutritious, possessing about 12 per cent protein at harvest which can be sustained over a long period as compared to the commonly used Napier grass whose protein concentration starts diminishing after about four months. The leaves, which form a greater proportion of the plant, are also more palatable and easily digestible. Since Brachiaria grasses thrive all year round, farmers are able to enjoy a constant supply of animal fodder. After a bumper harvest, Brachiaria can easily be dried in the sun and conserved as hay for sale or future use.

Brachiaria grass is not only good for livestock, but has proven useful in the alleviation of the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and ground water pollution. The high amounts of biomass produced by the grass sequester carbon and enhance nitrogen use efficiency through biological nitrification inhibition (BNI).

Through the Swedish funded research project, scientists from the BecA-ILRI Hub, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Rwanda Agriculture Board, International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Grasslanz Technology Limited and AgResearch (New Zealand), are developing varieties of Brachiaria grasses that are well suited to different local environments across eastern Africa. The project aims at promoting the mass cultivation of the grass in Kenya and other African countries so that the continent can eventually also reap the benefits of her native grass.

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For information on the Brachiaria grass planting materials and the field trials being coordinated by KALRO Katumani research center, call Tel: 0722206986

For more information on the research project, contact program leader Sita Ghimire — s.ghimire@cgiar.org

Read original story by Sarah Ooko: Wonder grass back in Africa, opens new horizon for Kenya’s livestock sector
Read related story: Change of diet opens cash taps for milk producers
Visit the project page: Climate-smart Brachiaria grasses for improved livestock production in East Africa

The availability of genomics tools is transforming plant breeding by making it possible to identify and capitalize on their positive genetic traits. Genomics, or the study of genes and their interrelationships and functions, is giving plant breeders the means to accelerate the development of new higher yielding crop varieties that are capable of withstanding pests, diseases, or climate changes, and ultimately improve the global status of food and nutritional security.

In this three-minute video, Appolinaire Djikeng, director of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub in Nairobi, Kenya gives his views on the future of genomics in breeding and why research programs should invest more in the acquisition and application of genomics tools.

The BecA-ILRI Hub, a joint initiative of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU/NEPAD) and ILRI, is strengthening the capacity of African scientists to exploit advances in research by providing access to technologies previously unavailable in the region. The BecA-ILRI Hub genomics platform actively supports a wide range of research projects in molecular breeding as well as animal, crop and environmental health. Through a continued collaboration with researchers from African national agricultural research systems, the genomics platform is helping guide the design of strategies for increased agricultural productivity and crop and livestock disease management in Africa.

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Read more about the BecA-ILRI Hub Technologies and research related services

Join Appolinaire Djikeng, the Director of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa – International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub on 9 July 2015 during the fourth session of AgTalks as he gives his perspective on what it will take to reverse this trend.

Djikeng will be sharing his vision on why Africa’s untapped animal genetic diversity, particularly of mini livestock, holds the key to helping poor and vulnerable households in rural and peri-urban African climb up the livestock ladder out of poverty.

Djikeng is a strong proponent of capacity-building in Africa. His focus is on building the next generation of African scientists and tapping on bioscience to address agricultural development and public health issues. Djikeng has led the domestication of ruminant species in Africa, including the grasscutter, to create sustainable sources of protein.

Twitte handle: @BecAHub

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About AgTalks
As a contribution to the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized United Nations agency and the only international financial institution within the UN family, launched the AgTalks series. IFAD is exclusively dedicated to investing in rural people and working with smallholder family farmers. The objective of AgTalks is to present the human face of family farming by sharing the latest policy research findings, as well as different viewpoints on smallholder farming.

The fourth session of AgTalks brings together Appoliniare Djikeng,Director, BecA-ILRI Hub; Emma Naluyima, smallholder farmer and private veterinarian, Uganda; Robyn Alders, Associate Professor, University of Sydney and Director, KYEEMA Foundation; and Guillermo Vila Melo,agronomist engineer, who will share their perspectives and views on the critical importance of livestock to smallholder farmers

Follow the proceedings and interact with the prominent guests  via webcasting.
Share your views and insights on social media with the #agtalks hashtag.