Decentralized participatory plant breeding
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2004Language
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Ceccarelli, Salvatore; Grando, Stefania. 2004. Decentralized participatory plant breeding. Paper presented at the International Congress "In the Wake of the Double Helix", Bologna, Italy, 27-31 May 2003. Bologna, Italy: Avenue media.
Permanent link to cite or share this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10568/75682
Abstract/Description
It is widely recognized that conventional plant breeding has been more beneficial
to farmers in high potential environments or those who could profitably modify
their environment to suit new cultivars, than to the poorest farmers who could not
afford to modify their environment through the application of additional inputs
and could not risk the replacement of their traditional, well-known and reliable
varieties. As a consequence, low yields, crop failures, malnutrition, famine, and
eventually poverty are still affecting a large proportion of humanity. Participatory
plant breeding is seen by several scientists as a way to overcome the limitations of
conventional breeding by offering farmers the possibility of deciding which varieties
better suit their needs and conditions without exposing the household to any
risk. Participatory plant breeding exploits the potential gains of breeding for specific
adaptation through decentralized selection, defined as selection in the target
environment, and is the ultimate conceptual consequence of a positive interpretation
of genotype x environment interactions. This article describes a model of participatory
plant breeding in which genetic variability is generated by professional
breeders, selection is conducted jointly by breeders, extension specialists and farmers
in a number of target environments, and the best selections are used by breeders
in further cycles of recombination. Farmers handle the first phases of seed multiplication
of promising breeding material in village-based seed production systems.
The model has the following advantages: (i) varieties reach the release phase earlier
than in conventional breeding; (ii) the release and seed multiplication concentrate
on varieties known to be acceptable by farmers; (iii) it increases biodiversity because
different varieties are selected in different locations; (iv) varieties fit to the agronomic
management that farmers are familiar with and can afford and therefore can
be beneficial to poor farmers. These advantages are particularly relevant to developing
countries where large investments in plant breeding have not resulted in production
increases, especially in marginal environments.