Beanz meanz buziness!

"Kawomera" is one of two bush varieties of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) developed by CIAT and adopted enthusiastically by growers: in only four years the two varieties accounted for 74% of the bean area among a sample of 100 adopters in one part of Eastern Uganda. Households growing the new varieties were found to have larger amounts of bean in store and were thus able to consume more during periods of food shortage.

In Eastern Africa, beans are highly valued by the poor because all parts of the plants can be consumed. Not only is the grain eaten fresh or dried but the leaves also provide a vegetable relish to complement mainly starchy diets. The stalks may also be used for making soda ash, an essential ingredient in domestic soap making. The particular attraction of Kawomera (meaning 'tasty') is that, while many local bean varieties bear few pods and therefore yield poorly, the new variety is not only high yielding but also drought resistant, cooks well and tastes good. It is not surprising that the value of a new, high yielding bean variety, is recognized more quickly by farmers and consumers than by commercial seed companies.

In the absence of interest from commercial seed companies a group of women farmers in the foothills of Mt. Elgon have contributed to the successful adoption of Kawomera by developing a flourishing village based seed business. To ensure high adoption of Kawomera and other new bean varieties, CIAT researchers began in 1995 to encourage the women of Makhai and groups elsewhere in the country to produce good quality seed as a business enterprise. The women were trained in various aspects of seed production, including disease and pest identification and management and meticulous post-harvest processing techniques.

Whilst growing their bean crops, care is taken to keep on top of pests and diseases but it was after harvest that particular attention is paid to drying and storage to ensure good germination. In neighbouring villages, women can be seen to thresh beans from the dry pods on the ground. But in Makhai, the seed beans are beaten out on a simple platform thresher made of wood to avoid contact with the soil. To ensure that farmers only receive seed of the highest quality, the seed is then sorted to remove diseased, broken or germinating seeds. An interval of several months between harvest and the main planting season demands that the seeds must be completely dry to be stored. Moisture levels can be detected and recorded using hi-tech equipment but a simple yet ingenious solution is just as successful: all that is required is an empty coke bottle and some salt. Seeds are placed in the bottle with the salt and gently shaken. If the salt sticks, then the seeds are not dry enough and are put back out into the sun to dry on black polythene or paper. The test is repeated at intervals until the salt fails to stick, and the seeds can then be stored. The women's attention to detail also includes a germination test on every batch of seed before it is bagged up for sale. 100 seeds are placed on wet sacking for five days and the sprouting seeds are then counted to demonstrate to farmers that over 85% of the seeds will germinate.

Farmers who have bought the seed have noted the women's achievements and they too now take greater care to keep their seed clean and dry. They also use less insecticide during storage and the productivity of the variety fulfils farmers' needs and provides them with a surplus for sale beyond the seed that they retain for their own use to avoid purchasing new seed for planting every year.

The women of Makhai have to work hard to ensure that they have reliable markets for their seed as production declines when demand is low. However, the group are still producing seed for local farmers and CIAT have introduced them to three new varieties of bean seed to further boost their seed production. And, with their growing confidence and the entrepreneurial skills they have developed, these women have their eyes on the future and other ventures they might acquire.

CIAT - International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, Pan African Bean Research Alliance

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