In East and South Africa, PABRA pilots the first regional Product Advancement Meeting for beans

The demand for common beans is growing fast as more consumers embrace plant-based diets. Once mostly grown for household use, beans are now a commercial and export crop. As a nutritious staple rich in protein, fiber, and micronutrients — and a vital source of income for millions of smallholder farmers, especially women and youth across Africa — beans are central to both food security and rural livelihoods.  

To keep pace with this rising demand, collaboration is key. The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT established its Bean Program in 1973, laying the groundwork for Pan African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA). Over 25 years, this consortium has released 657 improved bean varieties across 31 African countries, reaching more than 37 million farmers. 

Today, with support from CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T)’s ENABLE and Inclusive Delivery Areas of Work, PABRA is further strengthening regional bean breeding networks by co-refining regional breeding priorities with national partners and stakeholders; augmenting partner roles in regional efforts based on their comparative advantage; and implementing modern breeding processes, such as structured and inclusive product advancement meetings.

Bean regional product advancement and planning meetings (PAPM) – piloting a new approach

Like any other innovation process, crop breeding requires a structured and robust methodology to advance candidate varieties so that they meet market requirements and have the greatest chance of adoption. In commercial crop breeding programs, product advancement and planning meetings (PAPMs) are the most important technical meetings of the year where all stakeholders (research, production teams, commercial teams, and end-users) work together to take key advancement decisions, share information and plan for the subsequent year.  

In most public breeding programs however, structured, multidisciplinary and cross institutional PAPMs are yet to be institutionalized. In June 2025, PABRA took the bold step to pilot two regional PAPMs for its networks in East Africa (ECABREN) and in southern Africa (SABREN), using protocols jointly developed with Breeding for Tomorrow. For the first time, PABRA networks intentionally included key network partners, multidisciplinary teams (breeders, seed systems specialists, socio-economists, gender specialists…) to jointly debate and advance varieties for clearly defined regional market segments.  

The PABRA PAPMs provided partners with clear opportunities to participate in regional product advancement, advocate for their country needs and allowed various stakeholders such as seed sector to provide current information to ensure variety advancements would satisfy specific national and regional market requirements as defined in Target product profiles (TPPs). As key advancement decisions were taken, the necessary associated plans were discussed and agreed (e.g. bulking of seed, establishment of on-farm verification trials, etc.) to ensure a smooth and coordinated progression of activities leading up to the subsequent annual PAPM.  

Building on the PABRA experience, Breeding for Tomorrow and ENABLE will engage with other regional crop networks in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to further refine and customize the PAPM process for various crop types, in order to institutionalize this critical process in product development.  

Inclusive Delivery will also play a key role as product life-cycle management is an essential component of PAPMs. By providing updates on the status of regional seed systems, Inclusive Delivery will help decide which varieties to keep, market, or replace. These insights guide where to invest resources next, ensuring seed systems remain responsive to farmers’ needs. 

“The regional product advancement meetings and the preceding country product design team meetings have been an excellent means of aligning the breeding program towards the priorities of the bean market and are certainly going to result in higher performing bean varieties that will put a smile on many farmers faces”, declared Clare Mukankusi, CIAT global bean breeding Lead after PABRA PAPM.

Tangible outcomes for farmers and markets

This regional collaboration is already delivering results: grain yield gains of 5–10% over commercial checks have been reported across participating countries. Traits critical to farmers and consumers such as fast cooking, color retention, resistance to pests like bean stem maggot, early maturity, and drought tolerance, are being integrated into breeding pipelines. 

Next steps were also agreed, including expanding hands-on training on product advancement selection and trait prioritization, building capacity for optimal breeding schemes, and conducting practical training in data tools, such as Bioflow for analytics and selection, etc.  

With this first PAPM and by continuing to coordinate regional bean breeding efforts in East, Central Africa and Southern Africa, PABRA is showing how regional breeding networks can accelerate innovation, strengthen national capacities, and deliver better varieties to farmers faster, ensuring beans continue to play their vital role in Africa’s food and nutrition security.

Group picture of the first regional bean product advancement and planning meetings convened by PABRA in Nairobi, June 2025

Resources

• News: Why getting the right food on the table is central not just to the health of our children, but to the health of our continent
• Learn more about the Pan-African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA)
• Learn more about CGIAR Breeding for Tomorrow
• Learn more about Bioflow, CGIAR Breeding Analytics Pipeline