CARPS student

Marius Affonfere was born in January 1993 and raised in Savalou district (Republic of Benin). In 2011, He obtained his Entry Level degree and he was granted a national scholarship to attend his Bachelor (BSc) training at the School of Sciences and Techniques for Preservation and Processing of Agricultural Products, National University of Agriculture (ESTCTPA/UNA) in Benin and graduated in March 2015. 

After his bachelor degree, he was highly interested to pursue his carrier in Food Sciences, which brings him to become a junior research assistant in the Laboratory of Food Sciences/Faculty of Agronomy Sciences (FSA) in the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC/Benin). With that respect, he has worked on different food science related projects. In December 2015, he was delighted to be granted a RUFORUM scholarship to pursue his Master (MSc) studies under the Graduate Research Grant (RU 2015 GRG 125) entitled “food to food fortification with baobab fruit pulp and morning leaf powder as a pathway to improve food and nutrition security of women and children in Benin”. In January 2018, he obtained his Master degree in Agricultural, Food Science and Technologies at the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (FSA)/University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC). In February 2018, he was awarded a six months RUFORUM Community-Based Field Attachment Program Award (CFAPA) to scale-out and disseminate his MSc thesis research findings. His CFAPA topic is entitled “Promotion of the consumption of sorghum porridge dual fortified with moringa leaf powder and baobab fruit pulp among under-five-years old children in rural Benin”. Based on the recommendation arising from his CFAPA implementation, he was strongly motivated to pursue a PhD thesis on the potential use of baobab fruit pulp to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies among local population in Benin. His PhD thesis entitled «Utilization of baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) and other local resources to alleviate micronutrients deficiencies among under five years old children in Benin» is carrying out under BAOCHAIN project.