Growing more local seeds in Africa can solve the region’s food insecurity and climate problems.

Local crops and seeds are often neglected in Africa, despite their nutritional and environmental benefits, research has shown.

In this episode of Africa Science Focus, Method Gundidza, director of the EarthLore Foundation, explains to reporter Elna Schütz the legacy of colonialism on these native species.

Siphiwe Sithole, a farmer and managing director at African Marmalade, an agribusiness that specialises in African crops, highlights the significance of indigenous seeds on the continent.

Using research, Albert Modi, executive dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa, assesses the level of use of local seeds in Africa.

Meanwhile, Mariam Mayet, executive director of the African Centre of Biodiversity indicates ways African farmers can increase the use of indigenous seeds.

Africa Science Focus is produced by SciDev.Net and distributed in association with your local radio station.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.

Do you have any comments, questions or feedback about our podcast episodes? Let us know at podcast@scidev.net

Solar powered, low-cost respiratory technology is aiding the fight to reduce neonatal mortality in Nigeria.

Nigeria has a newborn mortality crisis, with 262,000 infant deaths each year.

In this episode of Africa Science Focus, our correspondent, Royal Uche, highlights an innovation developed to curb the deaths of preterm babies in Africa’s most populous nation.

We hear from Jimoh Abdulrasheed, consultant paediatrician at the Calabar Women and Children’s Hospital, who tells us about the life-saving impact the solar-powered respiratory technology has had at this hospital in the south of the country.

Hippolite Amadi, a professor of medical engineering and technology, Imperial College, London, who developed the product, reveals the challenges he faced in scaling it, including dealing with corrupt high-ranking health officials.

Mary Edet shares her baby's survival story. And Olukemi Tongo, consultant neonatologist at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, in Nigeria’s Oyo state, says the government should invest in the innovation to reduce new-born deaths.

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This project was funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. The fund is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.

Do you have any comments, questions or feedback about our podcast episodes? Let us know at podcast@scidev.net

In this episode of Africa Science Focus, our reporter Michael Kaloki pulls apart the packaging challenges that threaten food security in East Africa.

We speak to Zippy Shiyoya, director at the Institute of Packaging Professionals Kenya, who highlights challenges faced by the industry, such as high production costs and shortages of materials that limit access to safe packaging.

Michael Humble, a Kenyan biochemist, explains how there is a need to understand the physical and chemical properties of food packaging to prevent spoiling and contamination.

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This podcast was supported by the Science Granting Councils Initiative which aims to strengthen the institutional capacities of 18 public science funding agencies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Africa Science Focus is produced by SciDev.Net and distributed in association with your local radio station

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.

Do you have any comments, questions or feedback about our podcast episodes? Let us know at podcast@scidev.net