Dry beans

Introduction

  • Dry beans are a pulse crop. Pulse crops are legumes that grow for one year and are harvested for the dry grain or seed inside the pod. Other major pulse crops include millet, dry peas, lentils, Chickpeas, Pigeon peas, and Bambara groundnut. Pulses are popular crops in the developing world.
  • Dry beans are available to the consumer either as packed dry beans or already cooked and preserved in a can. Red speckled, Large White Kidney and Small White beans are canned in a saline solution and can also be canned in tomato sauce (baked beans). The difference between beans canned in tomato sauce and those canned in a saline solution (brine) is that the latter can be used for any recipe, including puddings, cake, etc.
  • Dry beans is an important niche market in South Africa. It has a high water use efficiency and contribute to soil quality by fixing nitrogen in the soil (which reduces the need for chemical fertiliser). It can be used as feedstuff for animals and plays a major role in food security, especially so since it is a vegetable protein.
Source: Dry Beans Producer Organisation; A Profile of the South African Dry Bean Market Value Chain (see "Websites & publications" heading).

International business environment

India is the top producer globally of dry beans, followed by Brazil, Myanmar, China and Tanzania. Among the top 20 producing countries Belarus, Canada and the USA have the highest yield per hectare, followed by Uganda, China and Ethiopia (DPO, 2023).

Tanzania is Africa’s top producer. Other prominent growers in Africa include Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Burundi (DPO, 2023).

Some international websites

 South Africa: imports and exports

The landed costs of imported beans, determined largely by the then current exchange rate of the Rand in relation to the US Dollar, have a definite influence on the local price structure. The prices obtained for locally produced beans are also influenced by the quality of the beans on offer (locally produced versus the imported product). A strengthening of the Rand in relation to the US Dollar also encourages higher volumes of imports.

Local business environment

That South Africa relies on imports is offered as a reason for farmers located in suitable production areas to enter the market.

Dry beans are grown in Limpopo (40.7%), Free State (27%), North West (15.8%) and Mpumalanga (7%) (DALRRD, 2024). The dry bean production areas in South Africa as follows:

Province

Area

Free StateBethlehem (including the Aberfeldy/Afrikaskop area), Fouriesburg, Ficksburg, Clocolan, Harrismith, Kroonstad, Henneman
KwaZulu-NatalKokstad, Vryheid, Bergville/Winterton, Greytown, Weenen, Mooi River
LimpopoThabazimbi, Koedoeskop, Marble Hall, Tuinplaas, Vaalwater, Ohrigstad, Mashishing (Lydenburg), Burgersfort
Mpumulanga/GautengMiddelburg, Nigel (including the Bloekomspruit/ Grootvlei area), Delmas (including the Sundra, Eloff, Waaikraal, Kendal area), Ermelo (including the Chrissiesmeer,/Lothair area).
North WestBrits,  Lichtenburg, Koster, Rysmierbult
Northern CapeKimberley, Douglas, Modderrivier

Bean producers have the choice to sell directly to the trade or supply their product to the first point of sale in the bean marketing chain such as wholesalers and co-operatives. Beans can be sold to packers or processors and if they are unbranded they are sold in the informal market through spaza shops and hawkers. If they are branded they get to the formal market through the chain stores e.g. Pick ‘n Pay, Hyperama, Woolworths and Checkers/Shoprite. Split beans can also be exported to niche markets in the form of flour, and the bread and pasta industry make use of it.

Source: Dry Beans Producer Organisation; A Profile of the South African Dry Bean Market Value Chain (see "Websites & publications").

For the newcomer

Dry beans work well in a crop rotation system with maize on suitable soils. The recommendation is one year of dry beans out of three to four years in a crop rotation system. In a dry bean crop rotation system the long-term yield of maize has been increased by as much as 1 ton/ha. On high-yield soils the introduction of a dry bean/maize crop rotation system could drastically improve the profitability of both the dry bean and maize crops.

Find details of two publications, Dry Bean Production and Dry Bean Production and Disease Manual under “Websites & publications“. These cover the technical information required for growing dry beans.

Dry beans play an important role in the production systems of many small-scale farmers in South Africa The major part of beans produced by small-scale farmers is used for home consumption and/or traded at local markets. Despite limitations hampering the production of dry beans in this sector, the indications are that this sector can make a substantial contribution to dry bean production in South Africa. Support to small-scale producers is currently provided by the ARC-Grain Crops (ARC-GC), and its main partner, the Dry Bean Producers Organisation (DPO).

Role players

Note: Click to expand the headings below. To get a free listing on our website like the ones below, visit here for more information or place your order here. Disclaimer: The role player listings are not vetted by this website.

 
Mayford Seeds/SAKATA – https://mayford.co.za https://sakata.co.za Visit the website for details of distributors in the different provinces and in other African countries. These include C Baard, HAL Fennell, McDonalds Seeds, Seedplan Distributors and SAKATA branches across Southern Africa.
Soygro – www.soygro.co.za
NWK Ltd – www.nwk.co.za NWK offers the service of storage and marketing of dry beans.
Zamukele (Schoeman Group) – www.schoemangroup.co.za/zamukele A project which established new dry bean farmers as commercial farmers

Dry Bean Producers’ Organisation (DPO) – https://droebone.com The DPO provides industry-related services (like supplying production and marketing information) to the bean producer. It manages the research done, and is responsible for product and market development.

ARC-Grain Crops (GC) – www.arc.agric.za Training and research is done.

Zamukele (Schoeman Group) – www.schoemangroup.co.za/zamukele A project which established new dry bean farmers as commercial farmers

Further reference:

Training

  • The DPO offers the following courses: (1) One-day courses on the production of dry beans in conjunction with the ARC-Grain Crops. (2) A dry bean grading course on the basis of their comprehensive Dry Bean Production and Disease Manual.

Research

  • The major research partner of the DPO (and the bean industry) is the ARC-Grain Crops at Potchefstroom. Read about them at www.arc.agric.za. A study of the characteristics of the different dry bean cultivars is available. The purpose of this study is to help the producers to select the correct cultivars for their purposes and the area in which they are located.

Companies

  • The A Profile of the South African Dry Bean Market Value Chain includes a list of all dry bean traders and dry bean packers (see “Websites & publications“).

Websites and publications

Available from the Dry Bean Producers Organisation (DPO) are publications like: (i) A number of free information brochures in connection with the health benefits of dry beans as well as a new recipe book entitled Bean Renaissance – the intelligent food choice (also available in Afrikaans) (ii) SA Dröebone Drybeans magazine (iii) Root Diseases of Dry Beans and the Dry Bean Production and Disease Manual. The latter comprehensive publication is available from the DPO and the ARC-GC .

Publications are available from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) website, www.dalrrd.gov.za: (i) Find the latest annual A Profile of the South African Dry Bean Market Value Chain on the Directorate Marketing web pages on the “Old website” option. (ii) Two production guides are the Info Pak Dry Bean Production (information supplied by the ARC-GC), and Dry beans production. Find production brochures here for other pulse crops too like Cowpeas, Chick peas etc.

CD Roms from the ARC-PHP (Plant Health and Protection) include: (i) Crop Pests, Vol. 4: Field Crops and Pastures Pastures  (ii) Medically Important Spiders And Scorpions Of Southern Africa. Write to booksales [at] arc.agric.za or infopri [at] arc.agric.za.

Consult the AgriSETA Learner Guide Primary Agriculture “Harvesting agricultural crops”.

With regard to quality control an important documents is the Regulations related to the Grading, Packaging and Marking of Dry Beans destined for sale in the Republic of South Africa as published in Government Gazette No. 23571 on 5 July 2002, and its amendment.

Watch the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) presentation (2015) on the launch of the “Dry bean development scheme”, a collaboration with the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA), Kopano Co-operative, Tiger Brands Foods and Northern Seed Producers. Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_rJv6l8MU.

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