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Providing sub-Saharan smallholders with a cost-effective alternative to expensive artificial nitrogen fertiliser has come a step closer for British agri-biotech company Legume Technology, following the award of a grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
The Nottinghamshire company, which has been working on microbial biofertilisers for more than twenty years, will receive £2.15m from the foundation and the UK government.
The project will help develop biofertiliser technology as an affordable, accessible agricultural input for small-scale agricultural producers (SSPs) in Africa. The biofertiliser could increase smallholder yields in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner and improve outcomes for millions of families across the region.
“These farmers face many challenges,” says Dr Bruce Knight, co-founder and managing director of Legume Technology, “of which by far the most significant is access to nitrogen fertilisers.
“The absence of affordable fertiliser options significantly impacts agricultural productivity and livelihoods,” he says. “Synthetic fertiliser is not only too expensive for many of these families, but increased use would also bring its own environmental problems.”
Legume Technology’s work focuses on natural microbes – bacteria and fungi – that have a unique ability to capture the nitrogen that makes up nearly 80% of the air we breathe, making it available to crops. Farmers in the developed world have been using these ‘biological nitrogen-fixers’ (BNFs) for years, but generally they only work on a specific crop type, the ‘legume’ family that includes peas, beans and pulses.
The project will find out how much nitrogen these microbes can fix from the atmosphere, when used in non-legume cereal crops like maize.
“The grant from the Gates Foundation and the UK government will allow us to embark on a new programme of research to identify microbes that can work with non-legume staple crops such as maize, millets, sorghum and cassava,” explains Dr Knight.
As part of the project, Legume Technology will work with research institutes, specialist microbe ‘banks’, innovation centres and universities around the world to collect and assess 50 BNF bacterial strains that are already known to have nitrogen-fixation effects.
The University of Nottingham, Legume Technology’s long-time research partner, will screen these strains in high-tech testing chambers that use ‘marked’ nitrogen to identify the best-performing strains and understand their potential. The top ten strains will then be independently reviewed by the James Hutton Institute, one of the UK’s most-respected agricultural science specialists. Legume Technology will also partner with the Centre for Process Innovation, a government-funded ‘innovation catalyst’ that helps companies develop biotechnology products.
Field-scale trials will follow, to validate the laboratory findings and to check that the microbes perform as expected.
“The second part of the programme is no less exciting,” says Dr Knight. “The foundation’s grant will also allow us to develop specialist packaging for these SSP products.
“Because BNF products are live, quality packaging is very important to maintain shelf life and quality once they’ve left the factory.”
Typically, products are shipped in sterilised packaging containing enough product to treat the seed for tens of hectares. But the average sub-Saharan smallholding is less than ½ a hectare in size, making these packs too expensive and unwieldy for distribution in Africa. Domestically produced biofertilisers are available, but provenance, quality and performance are usually sub-standard.
“It’s another major constraint for SSPs,” Dr Knight points out. “Availability of high-quality crop inputs, in low-volume packaging, is a huge limitation on realising the potential of biofertiliser products in many African countries.
“There’s also lack of awareness around the existence of these biofertiliser products, and that they work,” Dr Knight adds. “The project includes in-country commercialisation trials to validate the product, demonstrate its reliability and show the gross benefits of yield and quality. We can then investigate logistics and registrations, with a view to developing commercial partnerships.”
The grant from the Gates Foundation and the UK government will also enable the design, build and installation of a new packaging line for SSP products at Legume Technology’s factory in East Bridgford. Dr Knight likens the proposed pack design to a crisp packet. “It’s easily portable and highly affordable, while keeping the contents fresh and free from contamination.
“Yet within that small bag, the Micropack, will be a microbe that has the power to transform the lives of millions of African smallholders by making their crops grow bigger and better, with more productive harvests, without any environmental side-effects.”
“It’s a very simple proposition, but a complete win-win project. We’re delighted with this grant and the opportunities it gives us to improve agriculture’s productivity and sustainability.”