‘Super beans’ offering hope to hunger-prone Africa

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 hunger-prone parts of Africa. It’s also a step toward the next goal: the “super, super bean” that researchers hope can be created.

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 Uganda bank stores around 4,000 types of beans, including some sourced from neighboring Rwanda before its 1994 genocide killed around 800,000 people and wiped out many of the country’s bean varieties.

The red-striped bean that 35-year-old Opio now harvests has proved so popular that the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization recently contracted a large commercial producer to supply 21 tons for distribution to South Sudanese refugees as planting materials.

Experts say the “super” beans are valuable because they cook quickly and tolerate most diseases and pests. “It is also a shiny red color, which local consumers like, and it’s sweeter,” said Dr. Robin Buruchara, director of the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance.