Science meets farming to reveal Africa’s best bean

我们的第二个inasp/scidev.net数据挑战的挑战是乌干达的农业项目。一组科学家加入了两个地区的358名农民，以稳健性，产量和可销售性来测试他们种植的最好的豆类。最重要的是，可以在影响整个东非的气候变化的巨大气候中繁荣的豆。

Around 23 million tonnes of beans are grown globally fortrade以及每年的当地消费。全世界，数百万农民depend on one or more of the 40,000 known bean varieties.

但是豆是脆弱的农作物。他们需要大量的水和稳定的温度才能生长。A研究论文这个月显示高达60%of areas in Sub-Saharan Africa in which beans are currently grown may become unsuitable for such crops by 2100, because of rainfall and temperature changes.

For Bruno Awio, a plant breeding researcher in Uganda, this problem raised important research questions.

Which beans grow best under which conditions?

To find out, he chose two districts as breeding grounds: Hoima and Rakai. They are nearly identical in terms of population, economies and their environment, but with one crucial difference: rainfall.

Hoima区位于乌干达的西山，与刚果民主共和国接壤。超过50万人居住在这里，其中大多数依靠生存农业。在过去的十年中，海玛（Hoima）看到降雨的上升。

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Rakai district is in the south and borders Tanzania. Like Hoima, most people here farm for a living. But Rakai is getting drier.

Awio说：“我们的动机是找到经历与气候形成对比的地区的地区，因此我们将能够将他们的经验转移到该国其他地区。” Awio说。

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Farmers' study

In 2012, Awio teamed up with CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership, to study how different bean varieties perform in different climatic conditions.

• The bean trial in 2012

• Trials were set up in five villages in Hoima and four in Rakai

• Agroup of 143 male and 215 female farmers signed up to the trial

• The farmers tracked the growth and harvests of 15 bean types over two growing seasons in 2013

• 他们报告了有关肥料使用，天气状况和豆类销售的其他数据

• Farmers were also asked to mark the desirability of the beans

• This was compared to scientific findings to rate the beans overall

要求农民根据其售出的售价来报告豆性能，并选择他们喜欢的豆子，然后将其与科学发现进行比较。

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The best bean: Masindi yellow

“农民表现出对Masindi的偏爱，” Awio说。他说，对于女性农民来说尤其如此，因为不仅有豆市场的市场，而且对家庭用餐也非常可口。

Awio的研究表明male and female farmers look for different kinds of beans。男人主要对豆类的市场价值和产量感兴趣。Women also needed a good sales value and high yields, but they wanted additional benefits, such as short cooking times, tastiness and high nutritional value.

Masindiprovided high yields of tasty beans in all environments studied. Regional varieties, especially the NABE type of bean endemic to Uganda, also performed well, and was especially popular with male farmers.

Awio解释说：“区域类型是小种子，但它们产生了很多豆荚。”“此外，它们对该地区的多种疾病具有抵抗力”，减少了对昂贵的农药的需求。

At the pulse of bean farming

Godfrey Kairagura, 50, farmer in Kyabigambire, Hoima district 在这个项目之前，我们没有关于最佳农作物的知识。它训练了我们如何更好地种植豆类，以及如何种植不同的选择。以前，我们还使用肥料遇到了问题 - 科学家建议我们最好使用。另一个挑战是如何推销我们的豆类，我们动员起来共同努力并分享我们的市场经验。 I participated because I wanted to improve my farming skills and get access to technical knowledge. But because I was suddenly working with other farmers in the region, the project encouraged us to share ideas as a group rather than just working as individuals. I was exposed to other experiences because of participating in this group. 我们过去只是种植可用的豆类品种的混合物，但是现在我们有了选择适合天气的豆类的技术。我现在也有雨量表来帮助识别气候变化。雨量表告诉我们何时可以预期雨季。 这很重要，因为我的农场受到气候变化的影响。目前，季节已经完全改变。我们曾经有两个雨季，但是现在我们一直在下雨 - 模式正在完全改变。不再有固定时间表。 目前很干，但是在一月，下雨了很多。我们种了豆子，但是到2月，雨水已经消失了。 我们严重影响,因为在一个案件like that, we use all the seeds and then we don’t have any left. We are losing a lot of seeds and crops because the rain seasons are not reliable any more.

该项目的成功意味着该地区的农民现在拥有技术信息来决定要种植哪种农作物，而不是依靠机会，价格和市场可用性。他们将继续监视不断变化的天气以更新其实践。随着进一步的研究，Awio表示，现在与表现最好的豆类在实验室合作，使它们更加健壮，以承受变化的条件，从而确保农民的可持续作物。

Bruno Awiois the winner of a data challenge offered to INASP-supported researchers to encourage collaboration between journalists and academics to produce data-driven stories.