Introduction

Memoire en français, summary in English:

Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of rhizobia isolates from two Rwandan soils and their effectiveness on two types of common bean under different agro ecological zones. A preliminary greenhouse experiment using Leonard Jars in Rubona Station was conducted to evaluate the potential of 174 rhizobia isolates. A selection criterion was based on nodule number, color, size and nodule weight. After 21 days, the best 50 isolates were selected for further evaluation in pots.

A number of projects in Tanzania jointly developed and used innovative and complementary communication approaches to scale-up improved legume technologies and established sustainable input supply systems. To assess the effectiveness of these communications approaches, N2Africa, the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), Farm Radio International (FRI) and other partners designed a survey tool using Computer Aided Telephone Interviews (CATI).

Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a major subsistence crop in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to their capacity to fix atmospheric nitrogen, they are a very important source of dietary protein for the population and contribute to soil fertility. Nonetheless, common beans are known to have a low productivity and a high variability in yields. A better understanding of what causes this variability is necessary to adopt the right practices that will enhance the productivity of common beans.