Month: June 2014

The performance of local markets plays a decisive role in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in Africa. An important aspect is farmers’ access to markets, which includes the process of finding buyers to the products, finding price information and negotiating prices. Due to constant changes in the market situation, it is particularly important to have up-to-date information on the markets. Esoko (electronic market in Swahili) is a company specialized …

FoodAfrica WP5 conducted a baseline study in 2013 in Meru and Tharaka-Nithi in Eastern Kenya where aflatoxin occurrence is considered to be high. Intensive trainings about aflatoxins were provided in order to disseminate knowledge of aflatoxin mitigation to a maximum number of households. Communities of both Meru and Tharaka-Nithi counties are well-aware of aflatoxin issues related to insufficient maize drying. Even though many lack deeper knowledge of aflatoxins, they believe …

Cameroonian Patrick Ngono, 35, is working as a PhD student in the FoodAfrica WP2 researching cattle breed productivity in Senegal. His objective is to identify the most suitable cattle breeds for Senegalese smallholders. Patrick Ngono is a doctoral student at the Inter-States School of Veterinary Medicine and Science in Dakar who is in partnership with ILRI as well as the University of Helsinki and MTT Agrifood Research Finland in the …

Magdalene Nguli, 27, is a Kenyan Master of Science student at the University of Nairobi. She is also one of the young scientists involved in the FoodAfrica programme work package 1. At the moment she is studying crop micronutrients in MTT Jokioinen in Finland. Magdalene Nguli is doing research in MTT headquarters in Jokioinen, Finland for altogether two months. Last week she got started on screening micronutrients from food crops. …