What beans are in the markets in Tanzania?
Verena Mitschke,who was a participant at the Legume Alliance write-shop in Arusha, has shared a PowerPoint presentation showing the varieties of common bean she found on sale as dried bean in the markets in Arusha, Moshi and Hai districts of Tanzania.
Verena said:
This report came from my research and some additional information I retreived from a report sponsored by Farm Radio International and CABI on Bean Production in Arumeru and Hai District.
When reading through the report (especiall the part on Hai District), I saw that the varieties Masai Red and Kichumbaa appear to be the same, just known under a different name. In my research, it seemed as if they were two different varieties.
As I did the market research in Arusha and Hai retailers told me that Bukoba and Kanamna (Nganamna) are two different varieties. In this report again they seem to be same, just having different names.
This shows how confusing local names can be, but unfortunately farmers seem to not know, or certainly not use, the names that researchers have given particular varieties.