Challenges and opportunities in common bean production and marketing in Botswana: prospects and farmer’s perspectives

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is the most consumed legume crop in the world and one of the most consumed in Botswana. This study aims to identify constraints and opportunities in beans production in order to introduce the crop in Botswana cropping system. A survey was conducted among 287 farmers in two districts of Southern and Chobe with farmers selected by multi-stage sampling technique. The majority of farmers were female (66.1%), and a few farmers planted common bean (11.5%), with majority growing maize (96%). only a few farmers have experience in common bean production (25.4%). Almost a quarter of farmers is above the productive age of 65 years (27.8%). Constraints to production include pests and diseases, damage by animals, lack of labour, drought and lack of seeds. However, majority of farmers are aware of the nutritional attributes of common bean and assume it is a drought tolerant crop and prefer to grow it at 21% (number of farmers who want to grow common beans). Farmers who grew beans bought their seeds mainly from Agro dealers (76%) and bought an average of 6kg of seed per time at an average price of P12.35/kg. Most of the farmers (87%) were not trained in common bean production. Most of the farmers received little or no assistance from the extension officers resulting to no training or little knowledge about the production of common beans. Strategies to create awareness are needed, facilitate access and mobilise farmers to adopt common beans, to improve their livelihoods, this is encouraged especially in agro-ecological zones with high yield producing potential such as Chobe. Development of seed systems and release of varieties tested over Botswana environment, would lead to an increase in production of common bean, improve food security and nutrition and in a way reduce import bill.