‘Super beans’ seen as easing rising hunger
NWOYA, Uganda — Richard Opio dipped a dirt-stained hand into the pinkish beans, marveling at the dramatic changes they’ve made for his family. They used to harvest two sacks of normal beans; now they take in six.
The so-called “super bean,” a fast-maturing, high-yield variety, is being promoted by Uganda’s government and agriculture experts amid efforts to feed hungerprone parts of Africa. It’s also a step toward the next goal: the “super, super bean” that researchers hope can be created. The beans are produced by conventional genetic selection, not the contentious genetic modification technologies.
The beans that Opio now tends are thrilling farmers in this impoverished part of northern Uganda that also strains under the recent arrival of more than 1 million refugees from its war-torn neighbor, South Sudan.
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture says the beans have been bred by conventional means to resist the drought conditions that can lead to starvation as arable land disappears.
The group operates one of just two bean “gene banks” in Africa, which is expected to be hit hardest by climate change even though the continent produces less than 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases, according to the U.N. Development Program.
One “gene bank” is on the outskirts of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, where the beans that Opio now farms were bred. The other is in Malawi in southern Africa. Beans kept at the two banks are sent to partners in 30 countries across the continent to be developed further so they can cope with local conditions.
“The beans have to go through certain rigorous tests before they can be released to the general public, to make sure they do actually address all the issues well and perform well in different climatic conditions,” said Stanley Nkalubo, a legumes research scientist with Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization.
Aid workers hope the beans will encourage the refugees to grow their own food rather than rely on handouts, which in some cases have been cut because of funding shortages.
“It is important that other sources of food be found to complement the food assistance,” said Beatrice Okello, senior program manager with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in Uganda, saying that just 50 kilograms of planting seeds are expected to yield of up to 2,000 kilograms of beans.