Food security has been a perennial challenge across the continent despite vast acres of arable land and in some cases water accessibility. The continent has been forced to seek outside assistance on matters agriculture…however despite decades of assistance—Africa looks set to remain food insecure into the foreseeable future. Add Climate Change to the mix and the future continues to look bleak.
So last year we bumped into Madagascar Lima Beans by accident and we feel we have a potential solution to food security on the continent.
Originally from the island nation of Madagascar, the Lima Beans variety has a vigorous growth rate that will leave many in awe! One well taken care of plant has the potential to continuously feed the whole family for a good 7 years.
Now dear reader, imagine 100 plants? Imagine 1000 plants or 20,000 plants?
Farming Madagascar Lima Beans is very simple—with additional advantages of being cost effective as one can grow them without the need for fertilizer application and no need for pesticides.
The question now is why have food scientists been ignoring the bean varieties? Lack of information or error of commission?
ZBIN Trial Run
We started distributing the Madagascar Lima Beans last year in December and the results have been encouraging. A total of 400 Subscribed Members have benefited with some having started harvesting. Noma in Harare and Sharon in Gweru are our best farmers to date with photos shared below;
Developing Seeds for 2025 Agriculture Season: The author has harvested 18,000 bean seeds from a space of 10 metres x3 metres. Our members have been innovating by using trellis and buckets and we are extremely pleased with the results. Our target is to have at least a collective tonne of seeds ready for 2025 Agriculture Season Planting.
Currently Madagascar Lima Bean Seeds not available from seed companies and therefore the only place where Madagascar Lima Beans are found in abundance is our forum.
We are expecting a harvest of hundreds of tonnes from April 2025. Farmers developing a kitty for commercial farming by end of the year. From 2025 we expect tonnes of seeds to be available for subsistence and commercial farming. The next update will be coming at the end of May 2024 and we believe there will be great progress
