White Gold in A Navy Bean

Conditions are improving for Getahun Sagni, one of thousands of farmers in Ethiopia who struggle to grow enough to feed their families, let alone have a little something left over to sell.

Getahun is one of 2,147 farmers who recently participated in a CRS-supported project to bring new navy bean varieties to poor farmers in the Oromia region. Known as "Ethiopian white gold," navy beans are particularly important to this country because of their value in the world seed market.

Across Ethiopia, food insecurity is a chronic concern, particularly in drought-prone areas where millions of rural people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. The technology exists to help people increase their crop productivity. Unfortunately, poor farmers have virtually no access to quality seed varieties, little to no information on local selling prices, and no decent roads to bring their harvest to market.

With the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CRS is working to introduce two new navy bean varieties, along with improved farming practices. The idea is to increase farmers' productivity and income, thereby reducing the shortfall between how much they can produce and how much they need to consume. Ideally, this project would also create enough of a surplus that the farmers could sell or trade some of their crop for other necessities.

Through the project, Getahun received 110 pounds of a new seed variety, called Awash Malka. He paid 25 percent of the seed's value as down payment. In a total of four districts in Ethiopia's Great Rift Valley, Getahun and 2,146 other small-scale farmers tried out the new seed. Almost 322,000 pounds of seed was distributed, enough for each household to plant one or two acres.

In addition to working with the Ethiopian Catholic church in the area, CRS has focused on involving the farmers in managing and working toward their own success. Community leaders were identified and asked to manage aspects of the project. They helped organize participating farmers to facilitate seed distribution, down payment collection, training and collective marketing.

From Seed to Market

Farmers were also trained in navy bean production, group formation and marketing. Along with distribution technologies, CRS and its partners helped link farmers with local and international seed markets, including wholesale buyers and traders.

Since beginning with the project, Getahun produced 2,315 pounds of beans from his acre of land. Of these, he sold 2,205 pounds for a revenue of $400. He kept 110 pounds as seed for the next planting season and hopes to become self-sufficient in producing his own navy bean seed.

All told, participating farmers in the four districts produced over 2.6 million pounds of navy beans for selling, eating and replanting. The price farmers received — 14 to 16 cents a pound — was high compared to previous years, due in part to competition between traders and existing farmers' unions, but also because of the high quality of the product.

Getahun is happy with the support he received and the income he earned. "I will buy oxen with the money I obtained from navy bean sales," Getahun says. He adds that "ownership of oxen improves my family's food security status."