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Cycle 8 (2019 Deadline)
Increased availability of fast cooking yellow dry beans rich in bioavailable iron to Zambia consumers and farmers
PI: Kelvin Kamfwa (kelvinkamfwa@gmail.com), University of Zambia
U.S. Partner: Karen Cichy, USDA/ Agricultural Research Service
Project Dates: December 2019 - April 2023
Project Overview:
Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a major source of protein and iron. Iron deficiency is widespread in Zambia, especially among children and pregnant women, and consumption of iron-rich beans could mitigate iron deficiency. Faster cooking beans could mitigate the negative climate change effects on the environment by reducing the consumption of charcoal or firewood and reduce health impacts from prolonged breathing of emissions from long indoor cooking processes. Unfortunately, however, adoption of new bean varieties in Zambia remain low. Participatory Variety Selection (PVS), defined as the engagement of farmers in the selection of crop varieties, is one possible way of enhancing adoption of new varieties. Yellow beans are grown and consumed in Zambia, but for several reasons they are not as widely consumed as the purple “kabulangeti” beans. First, people are generally unaware of the nutritional superiority of yellow beans over purple beans or the fact that yellow beans cook faster than purple beans. Second, farmers tens to lack access to improved and higher yielding yellow bean varieties. In their prior research, the PI and his team have shown a correlation between cooking time and iron bioavailability such that fast cooking beans have higher. With consumers in Zambia valuing foods with a shorter cooking time, the researchers believe they have identified a good opportunity to promote the choice of yellow beans and mitigate iron deficiency in Zambia.
 | | The project team focusing on plant breeding (photo courtesy of Kamfwa). |
The two main goals of the project are (1) to improve the diets of Zambians through increased availability of fast cooking yellow beans rich in bioavailable iron and (2) to improve the profitability of beans for Zambian farmers by deploying new high-yielding varieties with traits that appeal to farmers and consumers. As part of their work, the researchers will provide high-yielding, fast-cooking, and high iron bioavailable yellow dry bean breeding lines to farmers in Zambia, using seed stock to be provided by the University of Zambia Bean Breeding Program and the breeding program of U.S. partner Dr. Karen Cichy. The team will then work with the farmers through the PVS process to help them select appropriate seed stocks for their local conditions. On-farm field trials will be carried out, after which the researchers will evaluate the adoption potential of the new yellow dry bean breeding lines. In parallel, the PEER team will also carry out on-farm cooking trials to test the cooking times of the various types of beans in real-life conditions (using charcoal and firewood for cooking instead of electric cookers). Farmers will be asked to rank the beans based on cooking time and other traits of as gravy quality, aroma, and flavor. Finally, to help create awareness of the benefits and opportunities associated with yellow beans, the PEER team will organize on-farm field days, where farmers, consumers, and representatives of institutions where bean consumption is especially high, such as hospitals, boarding schools, and prisons, will be invited to sample the beans. Government and traditional leaders will also be invited, as they will play important roles in promoting production and consumption of yellow beans.
This project is well aligned with previous and current USAID efforts in Zambia aimed at supporting promoting prudent management of natural resources and more efficient agricultural practices, including promotion of more diversification from maize to legumes. Access to improved higher-yielding yellow bean varieties could result in increased household food security and incomes, especially in the rural bean-growing areas of Zambia, where poverty levels are high. Availability of higher yielding common bean varieties could encourage more farmers to diversify into common bean production.
Final Summary of Project Activities
The project developed a high yielding, faster cooking, yellow bean variety (YBC129) with high iron bioavailability. This variety was selected from more than 250 yellow bean breeding lines through farmer participatory variety selection (FPVS). In a cooking trial in October 2021, a total of 20 farmers (10 female and 10 male) used a hotplate to cook a total of nine genotypes (four selected elite lines and five checks). The time it took for the beans to be fully cooked was recorded. After cooking, the farmers taste-tested the four genotypes and the checks. The cooking time for the nine genotypes ranged from 2.10 hours for the selected elite line YBC129 to 3.10 hours (YBC120). Interestingly, the fastest cooking and best-tasting genotype was also the highest yielding line among the four genotypes that farmers selected from the on-farm field trial in 2021. Because farmers selected YBC129 based on its desirable agronomic attributes such as seed yield, seed size and shape, cooking time, and taste, it is the elite line that the project chose to recommend for release as an improved yellow bean variety in Zambia to replace landrace Lusaka on the Zambian market. Dr. Kamfwa submitted this variety to the Seed Control and Certification Institute in Zambia in 2022 for testing, and its release is scheduled for 2024. Once released, this variety is expected to have significant impact on farmers’ livelihood because of its higher seed yield than the yellow landraces currently on the Zambian market.
In December 2022, the PEER team distributed seed of YBC129 to 620 smallholder farmers in Northern and Muchinga provinces. These smallholder farmers adopted the variety and will be involved in seed multiplication of YBC129 when it is officially released in Zambia. The seed dissemination activities created awareness about the availability of high yielding, faster cooking, and high iron bioavailability variety developed through FPVS. The use of FPVS in the development of YBC129 and the awareness that has been created about this variety is likely to enhance its adoption by smallholder farmers.
This project has undertaken outreach activities and collaborated with several key stakeholders. The researchers provided YBC129 seed to the NGO Community Technology Development Trust to conduct on-farm trials in Lusaka and Central provinces of Zambia. They also worked with the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute, a government agency, to conduct on-farm trials and disseminate seed of the new yellow bean variety, and they are partnering with the private company Good Nature Agro, which is conducting on-farm trials and identifying smallholder farmers that will be involved in YBC129 seed production.
At the time of his final report in August 2023, Dr. Kamfwa reported that his manuscript on his findings on the project has been accepted for publication. He has also received a grant in the amount of £39,353 from the AgriFood Africa Programme of the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund to continue his work on the PEER-supported topic. Dr. Kamfwa will also continue collaborating with his U.S. partner Dr. Karen Cichy on better understanding the genetic basis of faster cooking time of YBC129. YBC129 has been crossed with other genotypes to create breeding populations that will be used in genetic studies for cooking time. Additionally, Dr. Cichy will continue collaborating with the University of Zambia Breeding program to develop faster cooking varieties in other market classes.
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