Month: March 2014

The World Agroforestry Centre together with the FoodAfrica programme launched a new plant environment facility to support screening of soils for crop micronutritional deficiencies. The initiative is a major innovation that could set a standard for conducting plant bioassays and linking plant responses to new spectral-based soil and plant tests. The approach is to assess plant response to different nutrient treatments by growing plants in test tubes using small amounts …

This year the FoodAfrica work package leaders held their annual meeting in connection to the supervisory board’s meeting at the end of January in Kampala, Uganda. It provided an opportunity for constructive discussions regarding the progress of the programme. During the meetings each work package leader presented the progress, possible challenges and results to date for the supervisory board. The supervisory board members and other FoodAfrica researchers had a chance …

The Kenyan farmer’s level of awareness of the risks of toxic substances produced by fungi, i.e. mycotoxins, varies. In areas where the problem of acute poisoning has already risen, people have a better understanding of the risks. In other areas people are in danger of exposure to the mycotoxins because they cannot make the connection between contaminated feed and aflatoxin in milk and its effects. Mycotoxins are formed in susceptible …

In January a group of FoodAfrica researchers from MTT Agrifood Research Finland visited two dairy farms in the Kenyan village called Mukuyuni. The farmers were impressively well aware of the risks of aflatoxins and the ways of avoiding them in maize. Mrs. Fidelis Mbithuka owns a dairy farm in Mukuyuni village in the Makueni district. She farms dairy cows and grows maize in an area of 10 acres. Her four …