A review of climbing bean variety evaluation and adoption in south western Uganda

Abstract

From 1989 to 1995, 72 new climbing bean lines were introduced and tested at two variety trial centres in Kabale District south western Uganda. Four of these lines were directly selected from Rwanda for evaluation on farmers field in Kabale. Average seed yield ranged between 444 - 4262 kg ha^-1 on station and 1592 - 2546 kg ha^-1 on farm. Farmers observed climbing beans to be high yielding, tolerant to diseases and to possess desirable seed and cooking attributes. The genotypes Umubano and Urunyumba were the two lines most preferred by the farmers. Seed exchange of introduced climbers occurred among farmers within and between villages and was highest for most preferred lines. Climbing beans are, however, susceptible to birds and rats and are labour intensive because of their need for stakes.