Uganda’s rural women find beans to beat climate.

Sunny Mbeeta Abwooli knows a lot about beans as its her favorite ingredient.She shows a colorful basket of different bean types. The beans are different in color, taste and manner of cultivation . They are all important in the home because they’re easy to grow and to keep during times of food scarcity. In recent years, as chairwoman of the Kyamaleera Woman’s Handicraft Association, Sunny and 300 other farmers in western Uganda of which more than half of them are women have partnered with scientists to get beans that will beat drought, malnutrition and disease. In Uganda, common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are eaten at almost every meal and are integral to food security and the fight against malnutrition. Each variety has a different color, size or taste, and is preferred in different parts of the country for different reasons. Between 2012 and 2013, the 300 farmers in western Uganda were given 15 different bean varieties to test on their plots. Some were improved varieties, bred by researchers to improve characteristics like drought resilience or high iron content; some were locally preferred and others released varieties. Over three seasons, the farmers – together with researchers from the National Crops Research Resources Institute (NACRRI) in Uganda and CIAT – tracked height, yield; number of pods per plant and disease resilience of each. All 15 varieties were maintained for the three seasons, and at the end of the trail, farmers replanted the varieties which they considered performed best, without the participation of researchers. The best beans was identified but the women did not vote it as the best. Its a small, round, black variety from the northern part of Uganda, although they were found to beat drought and survive excessive rainfall better than some local yellow and red varieties, they are black. These beans are not a traditional part of the diet in Western Uganda, and so they were not selected by farmers. When farmers saw that NABE2 – the black variety – could withstand excessive rainfall and drought, they said they would grow it in those weather conditions. The marketability is based on seed size and color and this was the main driver for farmer selection. The need to educate farmers about the nutritious benefits of legumes, so that nutrition is a more important factor in making decisions about which beans to grow, was also a key lesson from the trials. When a woman with a small piece of land grows beans, they can fight malnutrition, improve livelihoods, nutrition and incomes for women,men across the continent and for future generations. Read