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Research enhances small-scale farming practices
THE DEPARTMENT’S PROFESSOR NDIKO LUDIDI has been leading the Plant Biotechnology Research Group’s eff orts to help farming cooperative DI Farms, in Mthatha, become a major producer of soybeans. The research group believes soybeans could be the answer to Africa’s agricultural and food security problems.
Prof Ludidi’s collaborators are Prof Marshall Keyster of UWC and Dr Ifeanyi Egbichi of Walter Sisulu University. Former UWC student Sisiphiwo Dingana is also assisting the research project which is funded by the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS).
In 2017, Prof Ludidi started working with Mthatha farmers and introduced planting practices to improve the health of their soil. Soybean was identifi ed as a key crop for enriching the soil through nitrogen fi xation. Like most legumes, soybean is able to take in molecular nitrogen from the air and transfer it to its root nodules where microorganisms, in a process called nitrogen fi xation, convert the nitrogen into ammonia and other nitrogenous compounds that plants can use. This eliminates the need for nitrogen fertilisers.
The UWC research team with small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and a research delegation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Some grain legumes not only grow in poor soils but tend to be hardy, tolerant of high levels of stress and able to grow under diffi cult climatic conditions. Legumes also fetch good market prices, adding economic value for farmers.
Prof Ludidi says soybeans are increasingly being grown as a major cash crop and animal feed. Up to 87% of global soybean production is converted into animal feed and soy oil, while the rest is consumed by humans as a protein source or used for other industrial applications.
Africa could potentially be a global leader in soybean production and other key grain legumes. Overcoming obstacles to accelerate soybean production concerns more than just farming practices. It is a societal issue too as soybean production can put a healthy meal on the table.
“Legumes such as soybean can still be a valuable protein source for the rural poor. To realise the full potential of soybean production in Africa, researchers, farmers, policy makers and traders will need to join forces,” says Prof Ludidi.
“We know that countries like Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa can capitalise on these opportunities, but there’s yet untapped potential in Central and West Africa as well.”
There are concerns that grain legumes like soybeans are losing their status as a protein source for humans globally. As income improves or people migrate to the urban centres, they consider meat as their protein source of choice. Many legumes have become neglected foods or ‘orphan’ crops.
Prof Ludidi and the research group have reached out to the Mthatha community through seminars on self-suffi ciency and food security, and have also engaged with young people in the area.
Prof Ludidi says: “We want to see small-scale farmers in rural areas across the country, specifi cally targeting the former homelands, being successful in sustainable crop production.”
Prof Ludidi warns that poverty will continue on the continent because small-scale farmers, who produce 70% of the food in Africa, are not supported with resources and new technologies. Financial returns on their crops are poor while training and fi nance are not widely available. Small-scale farmers in Africa are also challenged by soil quality, water availability, market access, political instability and land tenure issues.
“Within that context, the large African yield gap – the diff erence between the maximum achievable crop yield and what’s actually achieved – is not surprising and the poverty cycles continue,” says Prof Ludidi.
Prof Ndiko Ludidi examines a soybean plant.
