Indispensable Legumes

Spore highlights the growing appetite for dry beans:

Cultivation of haricot beans, which originated in the Andes mountains, has taken a strong hold in the upland regions of Central and Eastern Africa. The Great Lakes region (Burundi, eastern DR Congo and Rwanda) holds the world record for consumption of these legumes: an annual 50 to 60 kg of dry beans per person. But haricot beans feature on the menu in many other ACP countries too, including Cape Verde and Nigeria. They are also popular in the Caribbean, where they are sometimes accompanied by maize or rice. Haricot beans are often called 'the poor man's meat' due to their high value protein content supplied by essential amino acids (22 to 24%)...[continue reading]

While 234next reports on a new cowpea varieties IT89KD-288 and IT89KD-391:

IT89KD-288 (now SAMPEA-11) is a dual-purpose cowpea variety with large white seeds and a rough seed coat.” Mr. Atser said. “It has combined resistance to major diseases including septoria leaf spot, scab, and bacterial blight, as well as to nematodes, and tolerance to Nigeria’s strain of striga gesnerioides - a parasitic weed that severely lowers yield.”...IT89KD-391 (now SAMPEA-12) is also a dual-purpose cowpea variety, but it has medium-to-large brown seeds with a rough seed coat.
“These are preferred seed characteristics for commercial production in northeast Nigeria,” Mr. Atser said...[continue reading]

Related older article on commercializing deep-fried cowpea paste also known as 'akara',and another on the yam bean derived moi moi