Beans production is low due to poor crop management, low soil fertility, pests and diseases, low quality seeds. Practising proper practices leads to high yields.
When growing beans it is important to practice intercrop beans to avoid pest and disease build up and don‘t weed at flowering as flowers may drop.
Planting and management
Select fertile, well drained deep soil and avoid swampy and sandy areas for proper plant growth.
Select quality seeds of same variety and do not plant same seed for 3 seasons to maintain varietal purity.
Plough the land 2 – 4 weeks onset of rains and plant at onset of rains because the soil has water for bean growth.
Space at 45cm between rows and 20cm between plants and 60cm between rows and 15cm between plants when using ox plough 2 seeds per hole.
Apply fertilizers and thoroughly mix with soil for increased yields.
Weed 1-2 weeks after germination and after 3 weeks to reduce nutrient competition.
Harvest before pods break and separate dry and green beans to avoid losses.
Post harvest practices
Gently thresh on tarpaulin and separate rubbish to ensure grain quality.
Winnow to remove chaff.
Sort to remove wrinkled, diseases grains and maintain varietal purity
Grade depending on colour, damage, foreign materials, insect and pests, odour.
Treat seeds with recommended chemicals at right dosage, bag and store in clean dry place to protect from storage pests.
