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AGRICULTURE-NAMIBIA: Turning to Wild Bean for Protein

Moses Magadza

WINDHOEK, Apr 1 2010 (IPS) - Obed Kamburona has tried to grow many different crops on his large farm, but the dry sandy soil in Otjovanatje has thwarted him every time.

“I have a big farm but I can’t grow crops because the soil is not suitable for that. I keep cattle and goats,” he says.

Namibia is one of the driest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Its two deserts – the Namib and the Kalahari – are expanding annually. Poor soils and a shortage of water are limiting factors for farmers like Kamburona. The country imports 80 percent of its food from South Africa.

When Kamburona, who lives in the Omaheke region, 400 kilometres north of the capital Windhoek heard that the University of Namibia had begun experimental cultivation of the marama bean, he was among the first to volunteer.

Marama is the Setswana word for Tylosema esculentum – a pod-bearing perennial that grows wild across Southern Africa. It is under threat from urbanisation – the construction of roads and shopping malls – and from over-exploitation – in places where the plant still occurs in Namibia, South African and Botswana, harvesting is uncontrolled and often involves uprooting of its tuber, which is rich in starch.

The plant’s oil-rich seeds – slimy and unpalatable raw, but delicious roasted – are highly nutritious, with a protein content of more than 30 percent. The beans may also be boiled with maize meal, or ground into a powder and used to make porridge or a hot beverage.

It thrives in deep, sandy soil such as can be found in Omaheke.

Dr Percy Chimwamurombe, the principal investigator on the marama domestication project, said planting of the plant got off to an enthusiastic start in February.
 
Chimwamurombe and three fellow researchers joined Kamburona and 11 other locals to prepare two hectares of land and plant marama seeds.

Another 44 farmers across the Namibia are also planting experimental fields to assess the possibility of domesticating marama in this project funded jointly by the UK-based Kirkhouse Trust of the United Kingdom, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Namibia.

“Crop diversification is urgently needed in all parts of the world considering the bad effects of climate change on agriculture. All our crops and domestic animals used to be wild. We have seen some plants and animals become extinct. Ours is an attempt to stop this from happening to marama beans,” Chimwamurombe told IPS.

Scientists in the United States declared the marama a potential candidate for domestication in the early 1960s, and according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation it is being grown in Australia.

Chimwamurombe said the first objective was simply to demonstrate that the plant can be cultivated, harvested and sold. His team will study the growth and development of the plants in the experimental plots to select and later breed the most suitable qualities for sustained cultivation.

“Poverty and unemployment are major challenges in our region. Given the high protein and starch contained in marama, the plant can easily be converted into a cash crop, creating jobs and generating household and national income,” the researcher says.

Chimwamurombe said protein deficiency is a major challenge in Southern Africa, and if the plant can be developed to become an economically viable crop – especially on land that is now underused – it will be a valuable option for farmers across the region where similar conditions prevail.

The research process itself will also benefit the building of plant-breeding skills. “The SADC region has many resources but few experts to lead the exploitation of these resources. This programme is expected to train many scientists over the projected 18 year period that it will run,” says Chimwamurombe.

Kamburona and other communal farmers who have volunteered to be part of the marama domestication project are optimistic the venture can change their fortunes if it succeeds.