Impact of Bean Research in Rwanda and Uganda

• Beans are vital sources of protein, iron and other micronutrients in Rwanda and Uganda. • The average yield gain over local varieties from adopting improved bean varieties is 53% in Rwanda and 60% in Uganda. • Rwandan households planting improved bean varieties gain, on average, an extra 42 kg of the crop over local varieties per agricultural season, increasing household revenue by US$50. • Farmers in Uganda benefit from an average yield gain of 40 kg per household per agricultural season by adopting improved varieties of bean, corresponding to additional income of US$47. • In Rwanda, 16% more households would have been food insecure without the improved bean varieties; in Uganda 2% more households would have been food insecure. • Poverty would have been about 0.4% and 0.1% higher in Rwanda and Uganda respectively, in the absence of varietal improvements to this vital subsistence crop. Background In the late 1990s, a global initiative on the impact assessment of crop varietal change estimated that improved varieties accounted for about 22% of the growing area of primary food crops across Sub-Saharan Africa (Evenson and Gollin, 2003). This baseline has recently been updated, widened and deepened in a CGIAR project ‘Diffusion and Impact of Improved Crop Varieties in SubSaharan Africa’ (DIIVA), supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Seven CGIAR Centers and more than 200 individuals – mainly crop improvement scientists in national programs – participated in the DIIVA Project, which was directed and coordinated by the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA) of the CGIAR and administered through Bioversity International. For detailed results from the DIIVA project, see SPIA Impact Brief 42, ‘Adoption of