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Beans Breaking Barriers
Sara Wolcott | Monday 9th February 2009|
First, you should know that I love science. But I am not, well, religious about science. I believe that science only ever tells us partial knowledge. Really, that's the whole point of science. It's a method of learning - and you never, ever, know everything. Alas, scientists often forget how much they don't know, especially when working with, say, poor, often illiterate, women farmers in Rwanda. Which was the location where some mighty fine beans broke some ancient barriers. It started when one pre-emmenant bio-engineer went to Rwanda to help the farmers there deal with a recent outbreak of root-rot, which could wipe out whole crops of beans - which make up 62% of most household's protein. It's a country where if you haven't had beans that day, you haven't eaten.  While our Scientist was happy to help Rwandans, he was less happy about the method: he was going to be working with the farmers (women) to develop the best form of beans, instead of simply doing the experiments himself and giving them the finished product. The project was simple: first, he screened out 32 of the 62 possible bean varieties in a controlled environment. Then he worked with local farmers and narrowed that to 10 beans, which they then planted, and, as a group, chose 1 bean variety that they liked the best, which they then planted along with their traditional varieties. He found that not only did he enjoy working with the women, but that he kept on learning things from them. And, importantly, they decided on the criteria for the beans, which not only were high yielding and resistant to the disease (which was what he was breeding for) but also were fast and easy to cook, tasted good, and had delicious leaves. He had never thought of breeding for taste, cooking time or taste-of-leaves. he realized, in the end, that not only was he helping to create a better bean, but that working with the farmers saved him from spending years producing a bean that they would probably never have used. It wasn't that his knowledge wasn't useful; it was invaluable. But so was the knowledge from the poor women. Only together could their partial knowledges create the bean that could feed the villages. To find out more about this and other stories about partial knowledge coming together for conservation and sustainability, check out Louise Fortmann's passionate and inspirational book, 'Participatory Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods." With humility, we can learn the way forward - whatever we think we do - or don't - know. |
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About the Author
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