Common bean cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin.

The worldwide common bean production has significantly increased in the past three decades, except in Europe where it is dropped. Nowadays, about half of beans consumed in Europe is imported. In the Mediterranean basin, the major common bean productions and consumptions are recorded in Spain, Italy and Greece, where a myriad of landraces survive on-farm. Actions to safeguard this germplasm cannot be disregarded, since Europe is considered a secondary centre of diversification of this species. Moreover, there is the need to increase the plant tolerance to drought, in view of expansion of water-stressed lands in the Mediterranean basin. Rapid progress in breeding for resistances has strongly reduced the effects of pests and diseases.