This extension brief, by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) researchers and their partners in Zimbabwe, explains explains the best cultivation and management practices for lablab bean and its importance as a forage crop.
Lablab bean (Lablab purpureus), is a drought-tolerant twining legume native to tropical and sub-tropical areas of Africa. It can be grown as a single green manure crop or intercropped with maize or sorghum to improve soil fertility or grown as a cover crop to suppress weeds and to provide nitrogen-rich mulch in conservation agriculture.
In east and central Africa, an in parts of Asia, it is mostly used as a pulse crop and both the green pods and mature seeds can be consumed by humans.
Download the brief: The agronomy and use of Lablab purpureus in smallholder farming systems of southern Africa
