Sowing Peace, Harvesting Hope: Women Bean Farmers of Eastern DRC

Since 2023, the project has operated in North Kivu, South Kivu and Tanganyika, confronting three intertwined challenges: an agricultural economy damaged by two decades of conflict, falling household purchasing power and deteriorating diets, and the systematic marginalization of women in agribusiness. Led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT with funding from GAC, the B4WE project places beans—affordable, protein-dense and climate-smart—at the center of its strategy to rebuild livelihoods and restore social cohesion.

In its first two years 13,846 producers—70% of them women—received ‘social-technical bundles’ combining improved seeds, fertilizer micro-doses, coaching on good practices and labor-saving tools. Indigenous Pygmy households – usually excluded from development schemes – now join demonstration plots and leadership circles. Women’s groups have secured collective plots through customary authorities, converting subsistence gardens into commercial fields that supply local markets and school canteens.