Reinhold-Hurek and Horn were honored for the project entitled “Advancement of the Namibian agricultural production systems through inoculants for nutritious food practices using Bambara groundnut.” The project is a Namibian-German strategic alliance in the areas of research, application, and capacity development, and contributes to the bioeconomy and to resource management. The prize is endowed with up to 150,000 euros.

The project aims to improve sustainability, the carbon footprint, and yields in smallholder agriculture. It addresses specific challenges in Namibia; namely raising living standards and food security in rural areas and creating jobs. An important part of the project is the promotion of the Bambara peanut (BGN), a protein-rich local legume that has been underutilized so far. The use of regionally adapted biofertilizers (inoculants) is intended to develop sustainable production systems and establish market chains for domestic consumption and export.

With the German-African Innovation Incentive Award (GAIIA), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) honors outstanding project ideas from African-German research cooperations that contribute to sustainable progress on the African continent. The prize helps to further develop research findings into innovative solutions that address social and ecological challenges in Africa and was awarded for the first time in 2018.

The event took place in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and under the umbrella of the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (SAFRI). This up2date. article explains how biologist Barbara Reinhold-Hurek is improving the cultivation of legumes together with Namibian researchers: https://up2date.uni-bremen.de/en/article/scrumptious-research