Low-Cost Staking for Climbing Beans

Empowering Beans, Sustaining Growth!

The Low-Cost Staking practice offers innovative and affordable methods to address challenges in climbing bean cultivation, particularly the need for plant support. It focuses on reducing the use of wooden stakes by employing alternative materials and techniques such as tripod staking, wooden string trellises, and live plant support. These approaches aim to enhance yield while minimizing environmental damage caused by deforestation from excessive stake harvesting.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

8•8

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 8/9

Project adoption1

Technology integrated in the ENSURE project.

See project details ›

Adults 18 and over: Positive medium

The poor: Positive medium

Under 18: Positive low

Women: Positive medium

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Moderate improvement

Biodiversity: No impact on biodiversity

Carbon footprint: Much less carbon released

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Soil quality: Does not affect soil health and fertility

Water use: A bit less water used

Problem

High cost of bean production: Expensive staking materials increase production costs and limit the wider adoption of climbing bean production.
Limited availability of sustainable staking materials: Dependence on wooden stakes creates supply constraints and increases pressure on forest resources.
Low climbing bean productivity: Inadequate staking causes yield losses of 50–90%, limiting the contribution of climbing beans to agricultural production.
Limited technical knowledge: Farmers and extension systems require practical knowledge on appropriate staking density, stake length and materials.
Environmental pressure from stake harvesting: Overharvesting of wooden stakes contributes to deforestation and reduces the sustainability of bean production systems.

Solution

Affordable staking systems: Low-cost staking methods reduce the financial barrier to climbing bean production.
Sustainable local materials: Agroforestry species, bamboo, grasses and intercrop stems provide alternatives to harvested wooden stakes.
Improved bean productivity: Proper plant support reduces yield losses and improves climbing bean production.
Extension and training support: The technology provides practical guidance that can be disseminated through extension services and farmer networks.
Sustainable production systems: Reduced dependence on harvested wood helps conserve forest resources and supports more sustainable bean production.

Key points to design your project

The technology significantly reduces bean cultivation expenses, aiding in poverty alleviation among small-scale farmers. It concurrently bolsters food security through enhanced yields and generates employment opportunities in rural areas. Moreover, by advocating for eco-friendly practices and diminishing dependence on deforestation for stakes, it actively promotes sustainability and biodiversity conservation.

To incorporate this technology into your project, consider these steps and prerequisites:

Raise awareness about the positive impact of proper staking on climbing bean yields.
Educate farmers about the array of low-cost technologies available for staking.
Disseminate decision support tools and recommendations through farmer networks and extension agencies.
Ensure access to small loans to offset initial investments for staking materials and labor.

Allocate resources for comprehensive training and post-training support during project implementation.

Collaborate with agricultural development institutions to facilitate widespread adoption of the technology.

Explore opportunities to integrate complementary technologies, such as Climbing Bean with High Yield and N Fixation, for further efficiency gains.

300 %

Increase in yields compared to bush beans

20,000—50,000 stakes per hectare

Staking density for highest yields

2 meters

Height of stakes for highest yields

⁓200,000 plants

Plant population per hectare

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology's development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology's readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Used by some intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Project	Countries	Beneficiaries	Budget (USD) & duration	Key figures
ENSURE Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	Kenya Rwanda Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo South Sudan Uganda Tanzania	Direct: 3,000,000	13.14 million 2024–2027	149,940 farmers trained 9,996 Training 2→3.5 tons/ha cereals production expected 350 agent trained

Project

Countries

Beneficiaries

Budget (USD) & duration

Key figures

ENSURE
Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension

Kenya
Rwanda
Burundi
Democratic Republic of the Congo
South Sudan
Uganda
Tanzania

Direct: 3,000,000

13.14 million

2024–2027

149,940 farmers trained
9,996 Training
2→3.5 tons/ha cereals production expected
350 agent trained

Figures in italic are from project plans and may change during implementation.

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Benin	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Burundi	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Cameroon	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Central African Republic	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Côte d’Ivoire	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Democratic Republic of the Congo	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ethiopia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Kenya	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Malawi	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Mozambique	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Rwanda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
South Sudan	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Tanzania	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Uganda	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Zambia	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid	–	–	–	–
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 1: no poverty

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 12: responsible production and consumption

Best yields come from 2-meter-tall stakes.
Ideal stake density: 20,000 to 50,000 per hectare.
Recommended stake materials: Acacia, bamboo, or grasses like elephant grass.
Plant climbing beans in rows or hills with specific seed spacing.
Stakes should be at least 2 meters tall and have a rough surface for plant grip.
Single stakes can support 1 to 4 plants.
Tripod stakes can support 1 to 3 plants and can be connected for added strength.
Various materials like reeds, tree bark strips, or creeping plant stems can provide vertical support.