APNI Partners to Strengthen Bean Value Chain Workforce through PABRA Academy
PABRA has partnered with APNI to target knowledge and skills gaps among national bean researchers, then expand to other actors across the three corridor hubs—production, aggregation and consumption—aligned with key bean value chain activities.
The recently unveiled PABRA Academy is a capacity-building initiative designed to close critical gaps along the bean value chain and empower actors from field to fork.
“Our goal is to ensure it becomes deeply institutionalized—within countries, within the value chain—so that over the next 10 to 15 years, the growing private sector can actively support research, address challenges, and contribute meaningfully to our work. That is the kind of capacity we are putting in place,” explained Jean Claude Rubyogo, Global Bean Programme Leader at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, and Director of the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA-Africa), during the announcement of the initiative in Nairobi, Kenya.
Designed to benefit all stakeholders across the bean value chain in PABRA’s 31 member countries, the Academy will use PABRA’s Capacity Building Framework aligned with the bean corridor approach—to equip crop improvement researchers and other actors with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to develop, deliver and promote bean varieties and technologies that meet market demands.
In its first round of support, the PABRA Academy is focusing on training researchers in the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). So far, six initial beneficiaries have been selected, comprising three females and three males, selected from Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Leveraging the funding of the various PABRA prestigious prizes, including the Al-Sumait Prize for African Development – 2019 and the Africa Food Prize 2023, PABRA has partnered with APNI in this endeavor.
Dr. Kaushik Majumdar, during his address at the Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance Academy (PABRA-Academy) kick-off event. Photo/Yohane Chideya
“At APNI, our core focus is plant nutrition research, but we also place strong emphasis on capacity development. We support students pursuing their Master’s and PhDs, so this initiative and partnership with PABRA is a perfect match for us,” said APNI Director General Dr. Kaushik Majumdar.
Among the key gaps to be addressed by the Academy are variations in human resource capacity across NARS breeding programs. This includes limited expertise in nutrition-sensitive breeding, a shortage of integrated crop management scientists—such as agronomists, soil scientists, and climate researchers—and constraints in their technical capacity. There are also challenges in adapting research technologies across different projects, alongside limited capacity among young scientists and technicians and limited opportunities for their mentorship, compounded by inadequate succession planning.
Source: Chideya, Y. Machini, J.M., Rubyogo, J.C. 2025-05-02. PABRA and APNI partner to strengthen bean value chain workforce through PABRA Academy. https://www.pabra-africa.org/pabra-and-apni-partner-to-strengthen-bean-value-chain-workforce-through-pabra-academy.
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