Climate-Smart Staking: Increasing Rwandan Bean Yields and Protecting Forests

April 29, 2024, 1:23 p.m.

Rwandans are the world's top consumers of beans, but production struggles to meet this demand. Climbing beans offer a solution, producing two to three times more than bush beans, but require sturdy stakes. Traditional options like trees and weak crop stalks are unreliable and put pressure on forests.

Enter a collaborative research project by AGRIRESEARCH UNGUKA Ltd and the University of Rwanda, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicines (UR/CAVM), implemented by student research club (AGRIRESEARCH Club), the project developed a sustainable, affordable, and readily available solution for climbing bean support, eliminating the need for deforestation.

The study compared thread stakes to traditional wooden stakes. While there wasn't a significant yield difference, thread stakes proved to be more cost-effective.

This research offers exciting possibilities for Rwandan farmers. Thread stakes can increase climbing bean production, improve farmer livelihoods, and reduce deforestation.

We are analyzing data and plan to share their findings with farmers. This climate-smart staking method has the potential to significantly boost Rwanda's bean production and contribute to a more sustainable food system.

Students from AGRIRESEARCH Club at UR-CAVM played a key role in developing a sustainable support system for climbing beans in our Public-Private-Academic Partnership (PPAP) project with UR-CAVM.

Kindly watch the video of our research showing the performance of climbing beans supported by threads here: https://youtu.be/zHq7n8EAfMs?t=1

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