|  Common
bean is an important food legume in many countries of the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
where it is commonly eaten as an accompaniment to maize, the
main staple food. The Southern Africa Bean Research Network
( SABRN) is an African-owned regional bean network, consisting
of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in a total
of 10 countries in Southern Africa. This network is part of
the PABRA consortium along with the
Eastern and Central Africa Bean Research Network (ECABREN),
CIAT and a number
of donor organisations. SABRN responds to the Southern Africa
Development Community's Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Unit (SADC/FANR) which provides
policy guidance and oversight. The network has a membership
of 10 national programmes that bring together African universities,
NGOs, and the private sector as well as government research
and development (R&D) institutions. CIDA
(Canada) and SDC (Switzerland)
are the main donor organisations that contribute to funding
SABRN. DFID (UK) supports
research in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
Regional Variety
Testing
 Improved
germplasm is provided to all SABRN countries by the network.
This germplasm is used for regional variety testing - the
development of new bean varieties with various attributes
which meet the needs of each national bean R&D programme.
For example, new bean varieties may need to be tolerant to
low soil fertility or drought, and resistant to insect pests
and diseases. SABRN coordinates the management of regional
germplasm nurseries and trials, which contain improved bean
lines and released varieties (contributed by some NARS breeding
programmes, the private sector, SABRN and CIAT). The objective
is to share germplasm within the network so that each national
programme or the private sector can benefit from improved
bean varieties developed by others in the region. In this
way benefit are shared across the region, with those NARS
who are not yet running their own full-scale breeding programmes
standing to benefit most of all.
SABRN Member Countries
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