UB Ph.D. student wins Africa Plant Nutrition Scholar award.

Maurice Njiandoh Mbeboh, a doctoral student at the University of Buea, has been announced as one of the winners of the 2023 Africa Plant Nutrition Scholar Award.

He emerged in the fifth position out of the ten announced winners from across Africa.

Organised by the Moroccan-based African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), with support from partners, the winners will each receive the sum of $2,000 dollars.

The ten scholars from ten African countries were selected based on projects submitted with a focus on plant nutrition and the management of nutrients applied to crops in Africa.

Maurice Njiandoh Mbeboh’s Ph.D. thesis found solutions oriented to agricultural problems

Titled ‘Evaluating the Effects of Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms and Plant Bioactive Materials on Soil Fertility, Plant Nutrition, and Soybean Grain Yield,’ the thesis aims to provide the best management practices that can restore the soil microbiota and functionality, enhance soybean nutrition, and increase grain yield.

Other specific objectives of the research “are focused mainly on formulating consortia of effective microbial inoculants and suitable bioactive plant materials that are adapted to the specific needs of farmers and promoting their effective use for managing major abiotic and biotic constraints under sustainable intensification, within the nexus of integrated soil fertility management.”

According to APNI,” this research will foster sustainable development by improving plant nutrition and protection, which will enhance soybean productivity, increase farmers’ income and welfare, reduce hunger and malnutrition, and decrease food and nutrition insecurity, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

About the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI)

The African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI) is a not-for-profit research and education organisation founded in 2019 and based in Benguérir, Morocco.

It has a mission to enhance plant nutrition for a resilient and food-secure Africa.

Apart from its headquarters in Morocco, APNI has a West African bureau in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, and Nairobi, Kenya, in East Africa.