Diversity of food beans in Kenya

In order to have the consumers’ preferences in Kenya in beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) more clearly outlined and to survey the variation existing in local food bean material, 997 seed samples from plants selected in farmers’ fields and from agricultural shows were investigated and classified on the basis of colour, size and shape. For the classification a new number system was used to enable easy data transfer to punch cards. This exercise was primarily carried out to aid in setting the goals for a breeding and selection programme. Of the 997 samples the ten most common types were identified, and among those the Rose cocos occurred most frequently with 36.5%, second were the Canadian wonder types with 13.1%, followed by a Red haricot with 9.2%, Mwezi moja with 9.0% and Mwitemania with 2.4%. The types differed considerably, indicating that consumers’ preferences are very flexible. Personal communications lead to the same conclusion. Therefore a breeding and selection programme has, within certain wide limits, allowance to rank characters like disease and drought resistance higher in importance than seed type.