Climbing beans are high yielding giving four times harvest compared to ordinary beans
climbing beans are high yielding leguminous plants which are perfect for food security and agribusiness. The venture is a worthy undertaking as they will yield up to 22 bags per acre while ordinary beans yield about 5-6 bags per acre. Grown at a spacing of 1×1 metre 2 seeds per whole, one acre of climbing beans will hold 8000plants. Each plant can yields a minimum of ¼ Kg beans resulting to total yield of about 2200kg kg from one acre. Sold at a cost of 60/= per kg, 22000×60=132, 000/= gross revenue per acre in 3 months only. The estimated cost of production and returns are shown below:
climbing beans are high yielding leguminous plants which are perfect for food security and agribusiness. The venture is a worthy undertaking as they will yield up to 22 bags per acre while ordinary beans yield about 5-6 bags per acre. Grown at a spacing of 1×1 metre 2 seeds per whole, one acre of climbing beans will hold 8000plants. Each plant can yields a minimum of ¼ Kg beans resulting to total yield of about 2200kg kg from one acre. Sold at a cost of 60/= per kg, 22000×60=132, 000/= gross revenue per acre in 3 months only. The estimated cost of production and returns are shown below:
| Item | Quantity | Unit cost ksh | Total cost ksh |
| Output | 2200 kgs | 60 | 132,000 |
| Climbing beans Seed | 25 kg | 500 | 12,500 |
| Fertilizer | 1bags | 3000 | 3000 |
| Land preparation | 10 md | 300 | 3000 |
| Stakes | 4000 | 1 | 4000 |
| Planting & staking | 20 md | 300 | 6000 |
| Weeding | 10 md | 300 | 3000 |
| Insecticide | 300 ml | 500 | 500 |
| Spraying | 2md | 300 | 600 |
| Harvesting | 3 md | 300 | 900 |
| Threshing and winnowing | 8 md | 300 | 2400 |
| Storage bags | 40 | 40 | 1600 |
| Transport | 40 bags | 100 | 4000 |
| Total cost of production | | | 41,500 |
| Gross margin/ Returns in 3 months | | | 90,500 |
| | | | |
Plant at the beginning of the rains using a compound fertilizer or inoculate with Rhizobium soil fertility bacteria. The plant largely grows vertically saving land space and is Ideal solution to land scarcity problem. Climbing beans growing calls for staking the crop for support with 2 metres long stakes as is the case in hybrid tomatoes farming. Canes from overgrown Napier grass can effectively be used to avoid destroying trees and avoid interfering with environment conservation. This means a farmer planning to plant climbing beans can leave napier grass from the previous season to overgrow and produce supporting stakes. Climbing beans have numerous advantages as they are leguminous and improves the soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. This makes it a good crop to include in the rotation program of the farm. The legume requires a shorter cooking period in addition to being tastier than the local beans.
