agrl_innovations_in_ssa.pdf?utm_content=buffercb41d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Lessons that militate against scaling up include:
• A lack of small-scale producer knowledge on varieties grown and chemicals used; simply
carrying out instructions militates against increased industry efficiencies. Many smallscale
producers have consequently opted out of export production
• Problems associated with static or falling prices for export vegetables, set against
increasing costs of GAP compliance together with fluctuations in the local currency
• The need for irrigation infrastructure and equipment to ensure quantity and quality product
reliability. These are additional costs for the often resource-poor smallholder farmers
• A need to assess the costs and benefits of the many organisations, networks and projects
that support the horticulture sector. The country notes the significant foreign exchange
contribution, but the costs for the many collaborators are not spelled out anywhere, even
if they involve grants.
Rwanda’s climbing beans
Before the 1980s farmers grew many local landraces of both bush and climbing
beans. Research interest in improving bean varieties grew in the mid 1980s, with an
initiative from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Instutut des
sciences agronomique du Rwanda (ISAR). In January 2010, ISAR and CIAT released 15
improved climbing, bush and snap bean varieties. This was after some 10 years of
intensive participatory breeding between researchers and farmers, most of whom were
women. Over 20 improved varieties have now been released and are being adopted by
households across different farm sizes, gender and socio-economic groups. The yields
of the new climbing beans are about three times those of bush bean landraces and
have generated an additional US$ 8–15 million per year for Rwanda. The advantages of
climbing beans include their high yield potential; production stability and adaptability
to intensification, especially relevant as population pressure is reducing arable land plot
sizes. Climbing beans are acknowledged to grow easily. They contribute to food security
with many nutritional benefits, being high in protein and iron and zinc, cholesterol-free
and rich in dietary fibre. These health attributes contribute to the beans’ acceptability
by farmers, although a number of challenges remain. These include the need to ensure
production costs remain affordable, and the shortage of stakes for supporting the
climbers.
The introduction of District Stakeholder Innovation Platforms as part of a FARA initiative
to seek opportunities for value-chain improvements appears promising,
Initial context. Beans have been the protein staple of Rwanda for a long time; with Rwanda
having the highest per capita bean consumption in the world at 60 kilograms per annum
(Mcharo and Katafiire, 2009). The people of Rwanda have typically grown beans as intercrops
with banana, cassava, maize or sweet potato, often because of their small land parcels.
Although beans occupy on average 40 percent of the total land cultivated by a household, the
extent of the bean deficit remains far-reaching and severe (CIAT, 2008).
The case studies: Eastern Africa 37