Alliance creates biofortified beans to boost health and nutrition security of Colombian coffee growers

13 Nov 2023 --- A multi-year research collaboration between several Colombian institutions has resulted in the creation and release of three biofortified bean varieties that can be intercropped with coffee beans. The varieties have a high iron and zinc content, are tolerant to drought, pests and diseases and a higher yield potential than traditional beans.

“Planting beans intercropped with coffee allows farmers to improve their food and nutritional security by consuming more nutritious food, while also providing an alternative source of income during the growing stages of the coffee crop,” María Carolina González,

PhD research scientist at Alianza the Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Team Leader Biofortified Crop, tells Nutrition Insight.

“The bean varieties require less input, which reduces production costs and increases profitability. Beans help to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, which improves soil fertility.”

The new varieties, BIO103-SGA, BIO105-SGA and BIO109-SGA, are characterized by their bushy growth habit, which allows intercropping with coffee and facilitates a food secure situation for the growers. The cultivars can achieve two metric tons per hectare yields, surpassing the national average. The beans are also highly tolerant to the main diseases and pests. 

“To be considered a biofortified variety, these must obtain 60% more iron and 40% more zinc than the commercial ones, which are sought from the biofortified program. The varieties released focused on the micronutrient zinc, which helps children from 0 to five years old to develop their neurocerebral, women in pregnancy and increases the defenses of people,” says  González.The bush beans are drought and pest resistant.

A few distinct features of the beans include variations in size, shape and color compared to traditional varieties. They have a boosted nutritional profile, achieving 39% of the daily iron requirement and 41% of the zinc requirement. Colombians will get 1.5 times more minerals than they do from conventional beans. 

Micronutrients for immunity
Iron and zinc are important micronutrients for pregnancy and early childhood development. Iron is essential in producing oxygen-carrying proteins, and zinc protects the immune system against harmful bacteria and viruses. 

“The released bean varieties are an alternative to improve the food security of families in Colombia due to their contribution of iron and zinc that is above the conventional varieties. This means that the consumption of these beans provides up to 32-39% more iron and 34-41% more zinc than the daily needs of these two nutrients,” explains González.  

“These beans can be considered as rich in iron and zinc. In addition, beans, being a product of the basic family basket, help to keep people's consumption habits unchanged, thus generating a significant contribution to the diets of coffee growers and farmers in the country.”

Nutrition statistics from Colombia’s Ministry of Health show that one in four pregnant women aged 13 to 49 suffer from anemia and 50% experience iron deficiency. In addition, one in four children between six months and five years old have low iron levels.

About 34% of indigenous and Afro-descendant children suffer from anemia and 36% of children aged between one and four years lack sufficient zinc. 

The development of these bean varieties was carried out by the National Coffee Research Centre (Cenicafé) of the National Coffee Growers Association (FNC), the Alliance of Bioversity International, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Semillas Guerrero y Asociados.

“Our objective is to foster the development of nutritionally rich and environmentally sustainable food options to enhance their production, distribution and consumption. We are committed to ensuring that farming families gain wider access to these innovative technologies, with a strong emphasis on bolstering their food security and promoting income generation within the framework of sustainable agriculture,” notes Carolina González, lead scientist of the Biofortified Crops Program at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT.  

Nutrition alternativeThe beans are fortified with a high iron and zinc content.  
The bean varieties underwent extensive cross-breeding followed by evaluation in experimental fields between 2021 and 2023. The assessment verified the beans’ potential for productivity, adaptability to coffee intercropping and a high nutritional quality.

“For several years, coffee growers have been searching and experimenting with different crops to take advantage of the spaces between the coffee trees they plant. To this end, they have intercropped coffee with corn and coffee with beans. However, the latter did not have the expected results because the growth habit of the beans did not allow the coffee crop to develop optimally,” notes González.  

“This is why the launch of these three varieties of bush beans responds to the need of coffee growers to have a crop that can be grown in parallel with coffee, while also being an alternative to strengthen their food security through the consumption of more nutritious food and to generate extra income from the sale of surpluses.”

The next step is to explore commercialization of the surplus in order to improve the coffee- growers income and their quality of life.The beans are a nutritional alternative for Colombia’s 548,581 coffee-growing families cultivating the crop across 842,000 hectares.   

“These new varieties represent an excellent alternative to enhance the traditional nutrition of coffee-growing families. Moreover, their high yield potential and adaptability to the specific conditions of coffee-growing areas make them an additional source of income for coffee growers before their first coffee harvest,” says Álvaro Gaitán, scientific director at Cenicafé-FNC.

“For this reason, it is imperative to make advanced, climate-resilient crops with high micronutrient content accessible to the population. The Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT are actively developing plant materials or seeds with unique traits related to climate change resilience and nutrition. Their efforts focus on conventional, non-transgenic plant breeding methods.”

Meanwhile, a study correlated consuming two to three cups of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee daily with a decreased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and reduced mortality rates. It also links caffeinated coffee consumption with a reduced risk of developing arrhythmia. 

By Inga de Jong