The document discusses challenges and opportunities for common beans in a changing environment. It focuses on improving bean production and nutrition through breeding drought-resistant and nutrient-dense varieties, developing technologies for smallholder farmers, and innovative approaches for disseminating eco-efficient varieties to end users. Researchers are working to exploit genetic resources from wild relatives to address issues like low soil fertility and climate change impacts. The goal is to enhance food security, incomes, and human health while considering environmental sustainability and energy use throughout the supply chain.

1. Beans and Eco-efficiency in a Changing Environment Any real change? Or old wine in new bottles?

2. What changing environment? BIOPHYSICAL Climate change Soil degradation Demand for green solutions Rising costs … Fertilizer SOCIAL More acute poverty? HIV / AIDS Urbanization Advanced in LAC Advancing in Africa

3. Our mission: FOOD SECURITY INCOME GENERATION

4. Now… FOOD SECURITY INCOME GENERATION Eco- efficiency

5. Or… FOOD SECURITY INCOME GENERATION ECO-EFFICIENCY

6. Bean Researchers Breeding/Genetic resources S. Beebe P. Kimani R. Chirwa D.G. Debouck Pathology R. Buruchara G. Mosquera Biotechnology M. Blair M. Ishitani J. Tohme Physiology I.M. Rao Seed systems L. Sperling J.C. Rubyogo Human Nutrition H. Pachon M. Nyagaya M & E R. Muthoni Economics E. Katungi Markets E. Birachi D. Wetaka

7. Gene pools of Common Bean Tertiary pool P. lunatus P. acutifolius = Wild and cultivated forms P. parvifolius Secondary pool P. coccineus - P. dumosus W C P. vulgaris W C Primary pool Mesoamerican Andean P. costaricensis W W P. vulgaris W C W C W C W C W C W C

8. Common Bean…often associated with higher human population

9. Outputs in the MTP Output 1: Beans with improved micronutrient concentration that have a positive impact on human health Output 2: Beans and technologies that improve productivity under low input agriculture of poor farmers Output 3: Innovative approaches for Reaching End Users with eco-efficient technologies

10. Output 1: Nutrition Biofortification – economically viable Conventional breeding Gene discovery Goals for Beans 90-100% more iron 40% more zinc Targets Rwanda and DRC under HarvestPlus Other PABRA countries Central America, Caribbean, Brazil

11. Lines with 40-80% more iron Meso-American (interspecific) Andean FEB 226-parent

12. PABRA: Support to PLWHA Nutrition! Beans that are less labor intensive, and high yielding Semi-climbers! (race Durango) Rustic Weed competition High yield Not commercial but food security item

13. Latin America – a laboratory for linking agriculture and nutrition? All the problems in the world Poverty + undernutrition Urbanization + overnutrition Beans are traditional Beans are healthy Cardiovascular disease Diabetes Cancer Institutional support Latin American Nutritionist Society Ministers of Agriculture Post-harvest processing and industry involvement EMBRAPA CLAYUCA

14. The challenge of Latin America: Maintaining bean consumption To not lose a healthy habit How ? More attention to consumer traits…? Flavor? Flatulence? Canning? Cooking time?

15. Energy use for Food - USA Source: University of Michigan, Center for Sustainable Systems ( http://www.umich.edu/~css ) Processing (15.8%) Agricultural production (20.8%) Home preparation (19%) Home refrigeration (12.7%) Transport (13.9%) Food retail (4.0%) Restaurants (6.9%) Packaging (6.9%)

16. Shorter Cooking time Energy for Cooking: Probably even greater proportion of energy in developing countries A common request from rural producers / housewives

17. Output 2: Beans and technologies that improve productivity under low input agriculture of poor farmers

18. Andy Jarvis’ ever-popular Stipple map (Drier) mm day -1 (Wetter)

19. Less rain, more insect pests Climate change, pests and diseases More rain, more root rots and foliar diseases … and changing distributions! Stem maggot White flies

20. P. dumosus Rain-tolerant interspecific lines ( 1200 mm in 90 days ) FEB 226-parent

21. Climate change and Drought (Drier) mm day -1 (Wetter)

22. IMPROVED DROUGHT RESISTANCE (GCP / TL-1 / TL-2 / BMZ / RedSICTA) = + Good Grain Filling Deep roots

23. Yield potential (kg/ha) of drought resistant Mesoamerican lines *, ** = significant at P=0.05, 0.01 Our hypothesis: Some drought resistance genes contribute to plant yield efficiency, and are useful across environments Drought Favorable environments Days to mature PAL QUIL POP SER 102 888* 3352 3069* 2035 71** SER 109 1107* 3185 2286 2238* 71** SER 113 1025** 3710* 3195** 2253* 73** Check 347 3081 2505 1626 76

24. Yield potential of drought-selected Andean beans (Daríén, 1400 masl)

25. The Germplasm in Bernard’s ISFM Equation A dynamic component! Dealing with poor soils:

26. Aluminum resistance: Improving common bean with P. coccineus* * Ph.D. thesis, Louis Butare, ISAR, Rwanda 25 cm P. coccineus SER 16 SER 16 x (SER 16 x G35346)

27. To exploit P. coccineus and P. dumosus that have excessive biomass... Cross with parents of high harvest index like SER 16 Biomass + translocation efficiency = Improved Yield Yield under Intermittent drought Kg / ha Maturity Yield / d Interspp. lines ALB 205 3199 68 47 ALB 167 3174 69 46 ALB 213 3029 67 45 Drought res. checks SER 16 2520 63 40 BAT 477 2165 68 32

28. Fertilizer Use Efficiency CIAT pioneered root studies for P uptake with Jonathan Lynch… SXB 412 … and large differences exist in the field … we need to exploit research findings systematically Tio Canela

29. An experienced team in root biology

30. Nitrogen fixation in Heat Tolerant climbing beans for Africa CLIMBERS An early PABRA success Continuing demand

31. Options for Nitrogen Fixation Climbers Sometimes limited by stakes, labor Semi-climbers? (Type 3) Source of high SNF (Puebla 152) Rustic

32. Output 3: Innovative approaches for Reaching End Users PABRA - Wider Impact Estimated 8 M families in 4 years Marshalling partnerships in new organizational models ( e.g., public-private ) Research at the output-outcome interface Novel seed marketing Reaching the HARD to reach Central America and Colombia Surprising interest Especially in biofortified crops

33. Linking bean farmers to market niches Ethiopia and Peru leading the pack, followed by Uganda, Nicaragua, Bolivia

34. The other side of the coin: Energy use and production close to consumption 4 largest exporting countries move > 1.6 M tons annually, for >US$ 250M in transport Does it make sense to ship beans from China to Africa? Can we increase production closer to consumption? Mexico City Kinshasa Nairobi We won’t convince anyone not to export… but we need to understand relative competitiveness of exporting / importing countries, and what we can contribute

35. Conclusion So is anything new?… Efficient exploitation of interspecific crosses Working energy considerations into research prioritization Renewed focus on efficient plant nutrition (N and P) More consumer traits New approaches for reaching end users

36. Conclusion But you don’t necessarily need to do something different to change… As important as WHAT you do, is… Where you target In what social context For whom

37. Muchas gracias Bio-fortified Beans