Making mungbean more productive and profitable at the 2024 International Mungbean Congress

Inaugural addresses by Chongrak Wachrinrat, President of Kasetsart University, and Eric Huttner, Research Program Manager at ACIAR

On the first day, the Congress deliberated on many different topics. These included the impact of mungbean research, updates on genetic resources, genomics, breeding, physiology and nitrogen fixation, with perspectives on mungbean production from India and China presented. There were four separate sessions on the second day, on mungbean breeding for the next 10 years; farming systems intensification in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, nutrition, new food products, and agribusiness opportunities in mungbean value chains. Both days had flash presentations of selected posters, followed by the formal poster session.

On the third day, delegates visited Samchook District, Suphanburi Province and saw the mechanical harvesting of mungbean in a farmer’s field, grown on residual moisture after harvesting a rice crop. It was a great opportunity for delegates to see firsthand and discuss the importance of plant architecture, crop maturity, types of harvesters, and the quality of the mechanically harvested produce. Later, participants saw a field display of 43 mungbean varieties from different parts of the world at the Kamphaeng Saen campus of Kasetsart University.

Delegates in a farmer’s field observing mechanical harvesting of mungbean

Participants in four breakout groups had brainstorming sessions to map out future research priorities. The main areas identified were the need to develop ideal plant types suitable for mechanical harvesting, marker assisted selection for key traits, biofortification, maintenance of a database of phenotypic and genotypic data, and compiling mungbean recipes from around the globe. Awards were also presented to the best three oral presentations and best three poster presentations.

Brainstorming session to mapping future research priorities

In his concluding remarks, Eric Huttner thanked WorldVeg for convening the assembly of researchers, leading to agreement of research priorities, and paving the way for future productive collaborations.

Ozzie Abaye from Virginia Tech in her thank you note after the Congress said “I loved the entire program. I have been passionate about mungbean for the last 7-8 years. To be surrounded by people equally passionate about mungbean made me feel so fortunate to have had the fortune of introducing mungbean to Senegal”.

Ram Nair, WorldVeg, who leads the International Mungbean Improvement Network, said “It was great to have the mungbean community in together in one forum”, and gave appreciation to the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH for supporting the Congress.

For more information on the 2024 International Mungbean Congress program, and Book of abstracts, see

INTERNATIONAL MUNGBEAN CONGRESS 2024 – World Vegetable Center (avrdc.org)

World Vegetable Center. 2024. International Mungbean Congress. Book of Abstracts. Publication No. 24 -1075. World Vegetable Center – South and Central Asia, Hyderabad, India. 110pp.