Duncan Sones
Talking to young people about bean farming
Yesterday we shared with you the ideas our write-shop participants had about women and how to differentiate between women in farming households and women as heads of farming households. Today we are contrasting young people in farming households with young farmers. These are their thoughts about these two groups. Do you agree? Young bean farmers […]
Read MoreWomen: a heterogeneous group…
At a recent write-shop in Arusha, we asked the participants to think about what difference (if any) it made to talk to women in farming households, as opposed to women who are also the head of a farming household. What came out were some ideas about attitudes, constraints and to some extent opportunities. Do you […]
Read MoreNew OFRA project manager
CABI is very pleased to announce that Dr Wondimu Bayu has started work as the the new project manager for OFRA. In addition he will also work in CABI’s Africa Soil Health Consortium (ASHC) where he will provide technical backstopping with a focus on material development and scale-up campaigns related to fertilizer use in the […]
Read MoreWanted 7,500 bean farmers wanted …
Bart Sullivan of Farm Radio International writes: Good news we have started airing the Maharagwe Bingwa radio spot on Sauti ya Injili radio station! The radio spots go out at the following times: Mornings: 6:50 am, 7: 10 am and 11:00 Afternoons/evening : 12:50 pm, 4:10 pm and 8:30 pm Thats 6 times a day. This will […]
Read MoreN2Africa update on Legume Alliance
What Edward Baars of IITA/N2Africa decided to share about the Legume Alliance. Edward writes: What started as an agreeable brain storming session, has, over time become the ‘Bean Thinking’ campaign to inform smallholder farming household members about good practice in common bean farming. A group of public and private sector entities has joined with an […]
Read MoreRadio shout out to bean farmer
The Legume Alliance campaign is now really underway. Farm Radio International, in partnership with radio station Sauti ya Injili, is recruiting farmers to grow maharage bingwa (champion beans). A series of radio promotions will be broadcast from this week-end and they will say: Introduction : Threshing beans noises turned into a strong drum beat/song Kiswahili English Habari […]
Read MorePhotos from the Legume Alliance write-shop in Tanzania
Photos from the Legume Alliance write-shop in Arusha on 16-17 June taken by Raymond Jumah of Farm Input Promotions Africa(FIPS Africa) who was a delegate at the write-shop.
Read MoreCould you be a maharage bingwa?
One of the first practical outcomes from the Legume Alliance write-shop in Arusha last week is the term Maharage bingwa. For anyone not familiar with Kiswahili it means champion bean. We wanted to find a key term that all of the campaign partners could use. This is about more than bringing sense of cohesion to […]
Read MoreTuning in … Farm Radio International
Karen Hampson of Farm Radio International writes: As part of a consortium of organisations, known as the Legume Alliance, Farm Radio International will implement a 12-16 week participatory agricultural radio series to promote a bundle of proven technologies for improved legume production ahead of the October 2015 legume planting season in northern Tanzania. The Legume Alliance […]
Read MoreGraphics and research point the way ahead…
Duncan Sones writes: The Legume Alliance is trying to persuade farmers to change their bean growing habits and a series of partners are working together to make this a reality. The changes we are promoting include using seeds of improved varieties of common bean and applying fertilizer along with the usual good agricultural practices. Two […]
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