News
New PABRA Infographic: Better beans to enhance food security, incomes, and health in Africa
The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) has accomplished a lot over the last few years. The Alliance, coordinated by CIAT and made up of over...
Beans to the rescue in the fight against child malnutrition and school absenteeism in Madagascar
Twelve-year-old Branza has lived in an orphanage in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, since 2010, because his parents cannot afford to feed him....
Understanding Rwanda’s puzzling nutrition paradox
It’s October in Cyuve district, one of Rwanda’s most productive agricultural regions. Looking across the valley to the hills in the far distance,...
Bean recipe book published in Zambia
A Zambian book containing recipes for healthy bean-based meals is now available online. The book, created by the National Food and Nutrition...
Cameroon releases new five bean varieties
Last month (March 2015), Cameroon celebrated the release of five new bean varieties aimed at reducing malnutrition and raising farmer incomes. A...
Partnership – the heart of bean research
If you had to choose just one word that captures the essence of bean research in Sub-Saharan Africa it is ‘partnership’ – between researchers,...
Raising the profile of legumes – starting with seed systems in Eastern Africa
“Grain legumes don’t get the attention or investment that they deserve”, so say more than 50 grain legume experts and value chain actors who...
Building stronger bean systems
Strong seed systems are essential to ensure farmers can access quality seed and new crop varieties. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the seed systems that...
Nutritious, cheap and… convenient? Capitalising on untapped bean markets
The project – ‘Enhancing food and nutrition security and income generation through post-harvest value addition: A case of precooked beans’ – is a...
Syngenta Foundation – sowing the seeds for stronger seed systems
The Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture is backing CIATs efforts, through PABRA, to strengthen bean seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa...
The promise of beans in the fight against malnutrition
The idea that agriculture must not only feed us enough, it must also feed us well, has gained much traction on the development and research agenda...
Battling pests and diseases in Western Kenya
Despite major successes in the continuous battle against the pests and diseases that blight agricultural production, millions of farmers across the...
New approach launched to fight malnutrition in Rwanda
Rwanda’s fight against malnutrition, which affects nearly half of all children under two, stepped up a notch this month. A new survey targeting...
Rethinking seed aid in times of disaster
Drought in Ethiopia, flooding in Pakistan, earthquake in Haiti, conflict in Congo… Every year, the worlds’ vulnerable are hit by natural and manmade...
Breeding better beans in Tanzania
Kablanketi is a popular bean in Tanzania, known for its fast cooking time and palatable taste. It is thought to have been introduced into the...
Unlocking Kenya’s bean value chain
In western Kenya’s drought-prone Narok District, Pastor Stanley Shunkuru (pictured) surveys his land. Today it lies barren, the sun burnt leaves of...
Adapting beans to a changing climate
Adapting agriculture to the adverse effects of climate change is vital, none more so for smallholder farmers who tend to suffer the brunt of varying...
Good things come in small packages
Smallholder farms are just that, small. Small farms, and, invariably, small incomes.While the one of the aims of agricultural research is to...
Climbing beans reach new heights in Rwanda
Already one of the most densely populated countries in the world, the United Nations predicts that Rwanda’s population of around 11 million people...
On the trail of DR Congo’s Purple “Gorillas”
HarvestPlus is one of PABRA’s many partners working to increase micronutrient-rich bean production and consumption in DR Congo. This story was...