Breeding beans for smallholder farmers in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa: Constraints, achievements, and potential
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Date
2001Author
Kimani, P. M
Buruchara, R
Ampofo, K
Pyndji, M
Chirwa, R. M
Kirkby, R
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Serious declines in food security and income in sub-Saharan Africa over the past two decades have resulted
in widespread poverty and malnutrition, especially among resource-poor smallholders and the urban poor.
The common bean is a major part of their food requirements and source of income, but there have been
declines in bean productivity, attributable to a number of factors and estimated at nearly 3,000,000 t per
year. In the last 16 years, the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) together with NARS partners,
farmers, NGOs, and other stakeholders have sought to overcome these constraints by breeding highyielding,
disease- and pest-resistant cultivars adapted to poor soils, with characteristics acceptable for
domestic and export markets, and seed production and delivery systems for smallholder producers, among
other things. A record 188 distinct varieties have been released and have contributed significantly to
improvements in the livelihoods of resource-poor rural communities through increased availability of food
and household income, savings in cooking time, reduced wood fuel consumption, gender equity, and empowerment
of women and other vulnerable groups. Adoption rates of up to 100% indicate that accelerated
dissemination and adoption of improved bean cultivars can significantly contribute to improving food
security, household income, and poverty alleviation, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
Citation
P. M. Kimani, R. Buruchara, K. Ampofo, M. Pyndji, R. M. Chirwa, and R. Kirkby (2001). Breeding beans for smallholder farmers in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa: Constraints, achievements, and potential. PABRA Millennium Workshop Novotel Mount Meru, Arusha, Tanzania 28 May – 1 June 2001Publisher
Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, University of Nairobi, Kenya