Although canning beans have been grown in eastern Africa since early 1950s, little work has been done to develop improved bean varieties that combine tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses with canning quality. Consequently, bean varieties such as Mexican 142 ( the 'ruling varietiey') still dominate production despite its susceptibility to rust, anthracnose, common bacterial blight and drought. Navy bean has been the main type of canned beans in eastern Africa (Macartney, 1966; CIAT, 2001; Assefa et al, 2007). However, other market classes including the large seeded red mottled, red kidney, small reds, sugars and pinto are being canned to meet diverse consumer preferences (Kimani et al, 2012). Our objective is to develop new bean varieties which combine high yield potential, drought tolerance and resistance to major biotic stresses with high canning quality.
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