PABRA and the power of beans in Africa: 25 years of transformation.

The release of 657 new bean varieties, in 31 countries of Africa over 25 years, which have reached more than 37 million farmers (58% of whom are women),along with good farm management have more than doubled yields in many cases, thus significantly improving nutrition, health, and food security in Africa. PABRA takes on the challenges of climate change. Our improved varieties mature early in 65 to 90 days, thus helping to reduce the risk of drought and harvest failure. In addition, improved pest and disease tolerance and access to timely climate information enables farmers to further diminish risks. As a result,many smallholder farmers are already achieving significantly higher bean crop yields, thus enhancing their household income and food security

Improving food security, nutrition, incomes, natural resource base and gender equity for better livelihoods of smallholder households in sub-Saharan Africa

This report highlights progress of achievement over the last six years 2015 – 2020 in Burundi, Zimbabwe and other PABRA countries. The SDC project in the Flagship countries and other PABRA countries seeks to address the following outcomes: Intermediate Outcome 1: Increased bean productivity Intermediate Outcome 2: Increased utilization of improved bean-based products for nutrition security Intermediate Outcome 3: Increased trade of bean products Immediate Outcome 4.1: Increased access to skills, information and knowledge providing enabling environment for bean research and developmen

Improving food security, nutrition, incomes, natural resource base, and gender equity for better livelihoods of smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa - Seven Years of Impact: 2015–2021. Summary Report submitted to SDC October 2022

The Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Division of SDC has supported PABRA in its 25 years over various project phases with core contributions to PABRA covering 21 countries of the two networks, Eastern and Central Africa Bean Research Network (ECABREN) and Southern Africa Bean Research Network (SABRN1). The last phase covered from 2015 to 2021, when the ESA Division supported PABRA to implement the “Improving food security, nutrition, incomes, natural resource base, and gender equity for better livelihoods of smallholder households in sub-Saharan Africa” project worth US$13.7 million. This project applied the PABRA model with a special focus on Burundi and Zimbabwe

Access to Early Generation Seed: Obstacles for Delivery of Climate-Smart Varieties

Changing climates in eastern and southern Africa will require farmers to adjust which crop varieties they grow in order to adapt to changing patterns of weather, pests and diseases. Delivering more suitable, climate-smart crop varieties requires well-functioning seed systems in which actors work in harmony across the supply chain. Although a great deal of previous development funding has been used to breed new varieties and to encourage farmers to adopt them, the availability of early-generation seed (EGS) continues to be limited by bottlenecks in the supply chain. These problems are particularly significant for non-hybrid varieties and less-commercialized food crops developed by public-sector institutions. This study uses two contrasting case studies from Kenya to illustrate the importance of making improved bean seed varieties available to farmers. The first case study documents a successful instance of EGS transfer, whereas the second highlights the types of barriers that can prevent successful variety adoption. Improved coordination among system actors is necessary to reduce the barriers surrounding EGS provision and production, and thereby strengthen climate-adaptive and adaptable seed systems