The Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) targets the improvement of the bean crop for the benefit of Africa's rural and urban poor, as well as capitalizing on its value as a potential entry point for a learning alliance on community development.
More than 100 million people consume beans in the PABRA region and are potential beneficiaries. Beans are a typical commodity of the poor, produced mostly by women. Under the current Performance Framework of PABRA, the partners expect to reach at least 10 million rural people in at least 12 countries with new and existing technologies. Many poor rural and urban dwellers will benefit from more supplies of this low-cost and high-protein food, attractive new varieties will increase income for small-scale producers, and the health of women and children will benefit from varieties containing higher levels of zinc and iron (thus contributing to the Millenium Development Goals with special focus on MDG 1 and 3).
PABRA, with its efficiencies derived from a multi-institutional alliance and close regional collaboration, has led to considerable impact in Eastern and Southern Africa. To date, 245 varieties have been developed and released. Between 2003 and 2006 over 6.5 million households (30 million end-users) people have been reached. In Tanzania the internal rate of return to research investments was estimated at 60% over the 20-year period (1985 to 2005). In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, farmer incomes from beans increased nearly fivefold.
The SDC commissioned Joint External Evaluation of PABRA (JEEP) in 2006 concluded that PABRA is an effective, well-designed, well-implemented and, above all, highly relevant programme. A portrayal of PABRA was broadcasted in May 2007 on 3Sat channel.
Until end of 2008, PABRA aims to accomplish the following outcomes: i) increased utilization of bean-based technologies (new generation of higher-yielding bean varieties for better nutrition and income generation); ii) enhance capacity of 25 villages / communities in the project’s 3 pilot areas to plan and manage initiatives to meet their needs (increasing productivity combined with crop/soil/pest management); iii) strengthened institutional and organizational capacity of PABRA, constituent sub-regional organizations and partners.
A long-lasting commitment in such research activities is crucial as there is a) a constant risk of pests and diseases affecting existing and newly developed bean varieties, b) the need to maintain biodiversity and c) strengthening and taking advantage of the regional approach and d) reaching out to rapidly rising populations in drought prone marginal environments.
