Good breeding needs participation

credit: DFID Plant Sciences Research Programme

In the last fifty years, crop breeding programmes across the world have made incredible progress, developing new varieties capable of producing yields undreamed of a few generations ago. However, it is only too clear that plants that thrive in research stations, and in fertile, irrigated fields, rarely prove their worth when planted by resource-poor farmers in marginal areas. And while plant breeders have given an over-riding priority to achieving maximum yield, many farmers in poor countries make additional demands of their crops, which are often more highly valued than yield. Responding to farmers' actual needs is at the heart of a participatory crop improvement programme, funded by the Department for International Development, co-ordinated by the Centre for Arid Zone Studies (CAZS), at the University of Wales, in Bangor and carried out by the Gramin Vikas Trust and its partners in India.

In most crop breeding programmes, scientists are responsible for selecting and crossing varieties that show desirable traits. Under the participatory system farmers are fully involved in the process. Indeed the initial selection of varieties - some of which may come from the local region, others from further away - is made on the basis of discussions with the farmers themselves, as to which characteristics they regard as most desirable. A simple example is that of stem length. Poorer farmers often depend on good quantities of stover as fodder for their livestock, yet most higher yielding varieties of rice and wheat have short stems, and as a result have not been taken up by resource-poor farmers in marginal areas. Sadly this lack of communication between the providers and the potential beneficiaries of new varieties, has meant that much painstaking and expensive breeding work has gone to waste.

The participatory programme has been working with farmers in both Africa and Asia, primarily seeking to improve varieties of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize. In Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in western India, maize farmers identified short duration as a key requirement for their crop. This is a quality rarely considered by breeding programmes, and indeed runs counter to the goal of higher yields. However, the fields of poor farmers in hilly areas of these states are prone to end-of-season droughts. If a crop has not fully matured before the hot dry weather begins, the consequences are obvious. On the basis of discussions with farmers, programme staff selected maize varieties which they felt farmers might favour. The new varieties were grown alongside the traditional crops and, at the end of the season, the farmers reported back on their findings. As it turned out, no single variety was markedly popular, but six of them were picked out for their desirable qualities. These six were then crossed to produce a composite maize population, and selection in this composite by both researchers and farmers produced three most promising varieties.

The next step was for these three varieties to undergo extensive testing in the research station and in farmers' fields. One key element of the participatory approach is that the varieties developed must be able to prosper under existing management practices. In the case of the Indian maize farmers, this means virtually no use of fertilizer. One of the three proved particularly successful. Variety GDRM-187 not only produced on average 30-40% more grain than the traditional varieties, but also matured ten to fifteen days earlier; this increased the chances of securing a harvest, and offered further benefits. The early maturing grain reduces the period of hunger that often precedes harvest time, and also fetches a higher price in a market which had not yet been flooded with the new season's crop. In addition, farmers who rely on selling their labour as well as their crops, can be out working and earning sooner.

The benefits of the participatory approach have recently been given support by the Indian authorities. In Gujarat, the relevant state authorities have accepted GDRM-187 for official release to hill farmers in the east of the state, the first time a crop bred by the method has been given such a seal of approval in India, and only the second time in the world. The release is significant, because it means that the department of agriculture will be actively promoting the variety in their extension system; it will qualify for subsidies in both production and distribution to farmers.

The programme has also had success in the north eastern state of Jharkhand - formerly southern Bihar - where crop breeders and farmers worked together on rice varieties. An early maturing variety, KalingaIII, which is capable of producing a crop even under poor conditions, was crossed with a high yielding variety, IR64, which has multiple pest and disease resistance, and better straw quality. The final selected variety Ashoka 200F out-performed Kalinga III by as much as 25% in yield, while also maturing slightly earlier and having much better straw quality. The variety was officially released by Birsa Agricultural University in 2001, and recommended for growing in the upland areas of Jharkhand state. The varieties are now being tested by other states, to assess their suitability for wider release.

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