RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF STAKING TECHNIQUES ON YIELD OF CLIMBING BEAN IN HIGHLANDS OF BURUNDI

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important staple grain legume in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. In addition, it is a major source of proteins, energy and micro-nutrients (e.g. Fe and Zn), especially for smallholder farmers. The climbing bean is particularly more productive, an efficient land user and tolerant to environmental stresses compared to bush bean types. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of three staking techniques, namely (i) sticks, (ii) strings, and (iii) maize intercropped with climbing beans during the cropping seasons 2010B and 2011A on 10 sites of Ngozi, Mwaro and Karusi provinces of Burundi. Staking with sticks led to the most grain yielding among the three staking techniques; however, economic analysis showed that staking with intercropped maize was the most efficient. Use of strings as staking materials can replace the use of sticks without a reduction in production.