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Small-scale farmers in developing countries are an important target for participatory breeding efforts. These farmers usually require multiple traits from a key crop. For successful participatory breeding, therefore, it is critical to identify and assess the multiple traits important to farmers and how these traits are supplied by the available germplasm. In addition, once "new" varieties are available it may be relevant to identify which are of most interest to farmers and hence have the highest potential for adoption. This paper describes a set of methods to: (1) identify crop traits important to farmers in a particular area; (2) assess their relative importance, particularly to different farmer groups; (3) assess the distribution of the traits among the varieties grown by farmers; and ( 4) identify "new" varieties that may be of interest to farmers. These methods are illustrated using data from a project on on-farm conservation of maize landraces in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. The methods were used during the diagnosis phase of the project. Although the examples presented refer to an on1arm conservation project, they are also valid in the context of participatory plant breeding.

Socioeconomics Program

Text in English

0301|AGRIS 0301|AL-Economics Program|R03CIMPU

CIMMYT Staff Publications Collection