For general inquiries on CIAT’s bean research, contact: ciat-bean@cgiar.org
For further information contact: Stephen Beebe, Bean Breeder, or Matthew Blair, Bean Breeder
To obtain advanced bean lines being developed for sub-Saharan Africa, contact: Roger Kirkby
More background on CIAT’s bean work

Visit the CIAT Bean Improvement Web site

In many parts of Latin America and Africa, beans are considered the "meat of the poor." Their protein content is roughly double that of most cereals, and they are rich in essential micronutrients like iron and folic acid (one of the B vitamins). Beans are also an important cash earner for poor farmers. About
40 percent of Africa’s bean harvest, for example, goes to market, generating farm-gate revenues of about one-quarter of a billion US dollars per year. Latin America is the world’s leading bean-growing region, accounting for nearly half of global production.

Bean improvement research at CIAT is focused on developing germplasm that offers farmers distinct advantages with or without purchased inputs. In this work our scientists place particular emphasis on tolerance to drought and low soil fertility, combined with other desirable traits, such as higher yield and preferred grain types. Tolerance to physical stresses must also be combined with multiple resistance to diseases as well as with resistance to major pests. Toward this end our bean scientists continually screen and select the germplasm for disease and insect resistance and then "pyramid" resistance genes in agronomically desirable materials.

Experimental bean germplasm is distributed to national programs for local evaluation through a series of germplasm nurseries. For some advanced lines, CIAT maintains a supply of viable seed. Where CIAT supply is sufficient, small quantities, usually up to 200 seeds, are available to research institutions for further testing.