Amiran unveils high-yielding new french bean variety

French beans is one of the vegetable crops that is largely
grown in Kenya for the export market.
The fortunes of French beans farmers in the country have
been raised with the introduction of new bean varieties that
have uniform maturity.
This, according to Everlyn Musyoka, a commercial manager
at Amiran, will eliminate the tedious harvesting schedules;
they are normally harvested in stages. This consequently
leads to improved yields and lower costs of production
compared to conventional bean varieties in the market.
She notes that the Amiran's mechanically harvested
varieties are high yielding. They can be harvested once
using machines or the existing labour force, making it
easier for growers to plan and project their yields with more
accuracy.
"The new seed varieties in the mechanical harvesting
category will help in reducing the high costs of the intensive
labour needed for harvesting the crop which normally takes
an average of four harvests," she says.
Musyoka says the introduction of these new varieties of
beans is part of a wider and sustained long term demand
trends by both growers and consumers as vegetable
consumption worldwide increases in volume and value.
"As disposable incomes grow,people are becoming more
cautious of the health benefits with vegetables replacing
meat and carbohydrates in the diets. This is causing a big
evolution in the vegetable sector and opening a platform for
increased use of advanced breeding techniques,"explained
Musyoka.
She adds that for Kenyan farmers to compete for space in
the international food stores, they have to produce high
quality products under the most possible lowest costs in
order to realise the substantial returns.
Currently, vegetable breeders are engaged in ensuring that
the sector gets the best seed varieties and they are keenly
breeding for all links in the vegetable supply chain. They
are looking into several issues like increased yields,
disease and pest resistance, shipping and keeping quality,
product uniformity, taste, nutritional and health values
delivered.
Amiran Kenya, she said, is at the forefront in ensuring that
these values are delivered to clients in their product
portfolio as a way of ensuring that growers remain valued
and relevant globally in the horticulture sector.