By Ochieng’ Ogodo

Journalist-Kenya

At 45, Alphonsin Nyirambranjinka, a farmer in Rwengeri sector in Muganze district, Northern Rwanda, like any other small-holder farmer here, has had to grapple with declining bean yield. This is especially true with African soils that are already depleted.

Beans are the main staple food in Rwanda, one of Africa’s most densely populated nations. It is relied upon as a prime source of protein and a huge part of calories.

Here, beans are consumed on a daily basis by almost everybody-from the very poor to the rich.

Sigh of relief

But now, Nyirambranjinka can breathe a sigh of relief thanks to ingenuity of science that has bred various varieties of climbing beans now being adopted in Rwanda and Eastern Africa. It is called climbing because of its characteristic to ascend when growing.

“I started farming beans in 1973 with the bush beans but yields have been declining and from a half hectare of land I could only manage about 500 kilograms from one season,” she reflected.

But in 2005 she shifted to cultivating climbing bean type. The first time she got one and a half tonnes but she lacked knowledge on better cultivation methods.

With the new seed variety and extension services available from the Rwandan Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR) the yield has tripled over the last few years and she is now one of proud peasant farmers depending on a climbing bean variety.

She is part of the farming community working closely with ISAR from where she gets training, seeds as wells as extension services. According to Nyirambranjinka the new seed variety not only gives good yields but good taste when eaten and is disease and rain tolerant.

“The good thing is that it can be intercropped with other crops like maize and does not interfere with them at all,” she explained.

Ten years of research

Dr. Robin Buruchara said a research spanning ten years-since 2000-by the Rwandan Agricultural Research Institute (Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda - ISAR) in collaboration with International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) has developed beans that slink up stakes two meters high tripling and even quadrupling yields.

Last January 15 they released new varieties in Rwanda that were bred for rainy higher elevations. Altitudes come with different pests, diseases, soils and climatic factors.

They do well in nutrient poor soils and are also diseases resistant. The beans take three months to ripen and thus offer possibility for four planting seasons annually with a hectare yielding 3-4 tonnes each harvesting season.

Beans are an important source of nutrients, providing the average Rwandan with about 39 percent of their dietary protein intake. Besides they account for 13 percent and 18.72 percent of carbohydrates and lipids respectively, and are potent sources of iron and zinc.

This, according to Dr Buruchara who is the regional Coordinator for CIAT in Africa , is the outcome of sustained research and promotion that has made the climbing beans variety to be increasingly grown across income and gender groups. Today 65 percent of Rwandan farmers grow climbing beans varieties.

Dr Buruchara said the collaboration worked on conventional breeding to improve resilience to diseases and tolerant to rainfall. They took various germplasm-a collection of genetic resources for an organism.

In plants they can be stored as a seed collection or, in a nursery as for trees from CIAT bean germplasm bank-the largest in the world-based in Cali Colombia and after crossing them, they came up with varieties suited for different elevations in the region.

“We worked in partnerships to develop improved varieties through conventional breeding coming up varieties that have better yields and are more nutritious but also disease resistant and rainfall tolerant,” he said.

These beans varieties require stakes and in comparison take more labour. They also help fix soil nitrogen and also curtail soil erosion in sloping areas with heavy rain.

Scientifically referred to as Phaselous vulgaris L. , Buruchara said, the improved climbing varieties have gained popularity and are now increasingly grown in Eastern and Central Africa notably: eastern Kenya, eastern DRC, Rwanda, south west Uganda and Burundi .

Maximum yield from the fields

According to Augustine Musoni, bean breeder and coordinator of bean research at ISAR, northern Rwanda has had pockets of bush and climbing beans grown. But a devastating roots disease wreaking coupled with declining soil fertility threatened the livelihoods and food security of many people.

“The varieties were vulnerable and the disease wiped all the germplasm they had. But with research and the introduction of improved climbing beans people saw improved resistance to diseases”.

At policy level, Musoni said, the government is promoting climbing varieties and currently it is estimated that between 50,000 to 100,000 hectares in Rwanda are under climbing bean varieties cultivation.

On land ownership, he said, Rwanda has 0.1 hectare per capita and ensuring maximum yield from the fields is therefore crucial.

“You can get four tones on average per hectare when you plant climbing beans and even with potential for more yields but only 500 kilograms on the same piece of land with ordinary varieties like bush beans.”

The only major problem encountered so far is the staking. Most farmers cannot afford to stake the crop in every season. Also, unlike the bush beans which take about 3 months to mature, climbing beans may take about 4 months to do so, though with higher yields.

But the beans variety does not only offer small scale farmers plenty of yield, but also allow farmers to use leaves, pods fresh grains and dry grains for food as well as source of income from sales. It is rather a seed of hope.