LCEFoNS Lead Researchers Hold Talks with the Vice Chancellor

Legume joint steering committee of the Center of Excellence for Food and Nutrition Security (LCEFoNS) led by Prof. Marc Hendrickx (KU Leuven, Belgium) and Prof. Daniel Sila (JKUAT, Kenya) paid a courtesy call on the Vice Chancellor, Prof Victory Wambes Ngum, Tuesday, March 8, 2019.

The legume Center of Excellence in Food and Nutrition Security, funded to the tune of Euro 3735,000.00 (Ksh. 410 million), is a twelve year research project under VLIR-UOS initiative that brings together JKUAT and Belgian partners - University of Leuven and katholica Vrije University of Brussels.

During the meeting, Prof. Hendricks, while giving a contextual understanding of the LCEFoNs project that commenced in April 2017, informed the Vice Chancellor that the 1 st  phase of the project was geared towards human resources and infrastructural capacity of JKUAT particularly in the field of Agricultural Sciences and ICT.

He said during phase one, a total of 24 candidates will undergo post graduate training (7 PhD and 17 Masters) and this will be paralleled by improvement of laboratory infrastructure through Procurement of discipline related research equipment.

Prof Ngum appreciated the capacity building aspect of the program and said it will enhance collaborative research at the University and strengthen the outputs of the researchers involved in the program.

"As a University we will give the requisite support to the program and 1 am confident it will improve nutrition aspect in the country thus enhancing food security in Kenya," said Prof Ngumi.

The Vice Chancellor also urged the researchers involved in the project to leverage on the research outputs and empower the local farmers undertaking legume farming.

LCEFoNS is an inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary programme domiciled at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources working closely with the College of Health Sciences and School of Computing and Information Technology. The project focuses on different stages along the value chain of legumes, from agricultural production, postharvest storage and food processing to human consumption and its impact on nutrition and health.

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