Project Goal: Increase and sustain productivity per unit area through the development, dissemination and promotion of improved bean varieties and other production technologies in order to improve on food security, nutrition and household income hence contributing to poverty alleviation among resource-constrained farmers while conserving the natural resource base.

Project Purpose: To make available appropriate and improved bean varieties and other production technologies to farmers in order to increase bean production and therefore improve on food security, nutrition and household income

Specific objectives

1. Accelerate multiplication and dissemination of adequate quantities of foundation seeds of the available improved bean varieties

2. Identify new high-yielding genotypes with broad adaptation, acceptable grain quality characteristics and combined with multiple stress tolerances

3. Increase yield and stability of available released varieties and popular land races

Project Description: Common bean is the most important food legume crop grown in Uganda. It provides about 45% of the protein intake, 25% of the total calories, folic acids, amino acids, vitamin B complex, crude fibre and other essential minerals such as zinc and iron.  A survey by Mutettikka et al., 1998 indicated that beans are consumed more than 10 times in a week out of the total 14 meals by each house hold in the rural areas. The crop is also particularly attractive for food security because of a short growing cycle and adaptability to the different cropping or farming systems. Beyond their contribution to food security and human nutrition, beans are also important for income generation especially for the rural women.  For many years, research efforts have been directed towards identifying and releasing of new varieties in Collaboration with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Despite these efforts, access to these varieties by the resource poor farmers is still low. As such, the varieties currently being grown by the farmers are susceptible to a range of diseases and are generally of low yields. There is therefore a need to avail improved varieties to farmers and also a need to continue developing more superior ones. The Uganda National Beans Programme, based at Namulonge has therefore proposed to intensify activities on multiplication and dissemination of some of the available improved varieties. In this project, seed will be multiplied and distributed to farmers using farmer-to-farmer seed loan schemes in the districts of Mbale (Eastern Uganda), Kabale (southwestern), Mubende (western) and Luweero (central).  Genotype x Environment interactions through multilocational yield trials will be continued to ensure release of more new superior varieties. In this project participatory approaches will prevail. Farmers and other end users will take part in the testing and selection of the new desirable lines. Hybridization will also be continued to incorporate resistance to some of the major diseases in the susceptible varieties and land races.