34 Adapting Crop Varieties to Environments and Clients

January 2006 ADAPTING CROP VARIETIES TO ENVIRONMENTS AND CLIENTS THROUGH DECENTRALIZED - PARTICIPATORY APPROACH M.T.K.Gunasekare 1 ABSTRACT Since 1990s, participatory approaches have became a driving force for agricultural research and rural development. The participatory approach in crop improvement involves the client-farmer in the cultivar selection or breeding and highly appropriate for increasing food security and improving livelihoods of subsistence farmers in developing countries. This has developed over the past decades as an alternative and complementary breeding approach to formal plant breeding to effectively address the needs of the farmers, especially in marginal or resource poor areas. In pursuit of this concept, this paper discusses the trends, advantages and challenges in this approach highlighting the contemporary evidence of success case studies commissioned by various authorities worldwide. While successful experiences are evident, the potential of such applications are still to be explored. Among the key challenges to the approach, this article pays attentions especially to technical, economic and institutional challenges that need to be overcome to integrate end-users based participatory approaches into the formal plant breeding systems. The paper concludes by describing synergies that can potentially be achieved by linking centralized and decentralized plant breeding models over biotechnological methods. Key words : Formal plant breeding, Participatory plant breeding, Participatory Vareital Selection, marginal environments, decentralized testing, modern varieties INTRODUCTION south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (Pinstrup-Andersen et al., 1999). The Crop improvement plays an important necessary increase in agricultural role in the development and production represents a huge challenge strengthening of local agricultural to the local farming systems and must systems. The Green Revolution based come mainly from increased yield per on introduction of improved varieties unit area, given the limited scope for with high yield potential, together with expanding cultivated land worldwide. technological packages (inorganic fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation etc.) The present approach to agricultural have greatly contributed to the increase research and development however, is in agricultural production in several to improve crop, and produce food of regions worldwide. quality for all, while reducing environmental degradation and United Nations projections estimate depletion of natural resources base and that the world population will continue conserving agricultural diversity. In to grow from the current 6 billion to addition, the priority has now become about 10 billion by 2050 (FAO, 1996). not just sustainable agriculture, but The increase in population and sustainable livelihoods based on subsequent rise in the demand for agriculture too. If the modern agricultural products are expected to be agriculture to be sustainable, it is greater in regions where the production expected to contribute towards these is already insufficient, particularly in goals. 1Plant Breeding Division, Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka, Talawakelle, Sri Lanka . 34 The Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2006, vol. 2, no. 1 DISCUSSION 2004). Hence, it has been realized that further expansion of this high-input Farmers’ adoption and perception of model of agriculture would not be modern varieties sustainable, due to the high cost entailed and the negative impact on Since the first modern varieties (MVs) natural resources (Conway, 1998; were released during the late 1960s Singh, 2000). and early 1970s, the area planted with MVs has continued to expand. While it Limitations in formal plant breeding is clear that MVs developed through systems plant breeding programs (the characters of MVs are determined by Despite many advantages towards the objectives of breeders) have contributing to crop variety brought benefits to millions of development, the formal or producers and consumers, over time, conventional plant breeding (FPB) the adoption of MVs has lagged in programs also have some some areas, including many “marginal shortcomings. environments” (Almekinder & Louwaars, 1999). “ Marginal In conventional crop improvement environments” are defined as areas process, which is highly centralized, where agriculture is dominated by researchers make all decisions in variation in agro-ecological and socio- breeding varieties and verifying their economic conditions, resulting in performances. Most breeding programs complex stress and high production identify a core set of priority traits (by risk or low production potential . the scientists) and work to incorporate Among the factors that have those traits into the new varieties. The contributed for slow spread of MVs high-yielding varieties developed by into marginal environments has been the formal research system or FPB are the unsuitability of many MVs for often high-maintenance varieties and specialized production and have largely been suitable for resource consumption requirements of people rich and HPPSs. For many farmers who live in these environments, such conditions simply do not exist, especially the resource poor-farmers and as a result they obtain poor results (Elings et al., 2001). from high-tech varieties offered by the formal research systems. Many of It is commonly assumed that farmers these farmers reject the plant breeders’ in high potential production systems offerings simply because they were not (HPPSs) have much better access to designed for marginal farmlands; they modern technologies than in marginal meet neither the farmer’s needs nor environments. In many instances, plant local preferences (Almekinders & breeding has been beneficial to farmers Louwaars, 1999). As a result, old who enjoy favorable environments or varieties still dominate cultivation in those who could profitably modify those marginal environments, their environment to suit new cultivars, suggesting that farmers are failing to especially the MVs. These constraints benefit from modern plant breeding effectively put the MVs beyond the products. reach of millions of small-scale/ subsistence farmers who cannot afford In addition, in the varietal evaluation the high-priced inputs to get the process, after conducting on-station desired output (Morris & Bellon, evaluation (often under optimum input 35 M.T.K. Gunasekare conditions), better varieties are and develop a new paradigm that is identified by the breeder/researcher need-oriented and address diverse and made them available for the socio-economic conditions, production farmers to test their preferences using environments and management only a limited number of varieties practices. merely selected to meet the objectives of the breeder. As a result only few The emerging local approach to plant “best” varieties are finally developed breeding and disseminated as a blanket recommendation in response to the In an effort to overcome some of the varied needs of farmers. This is mainly limitations in formal traditional because national plant breeding approach to plant genetic programs do not always have sufficient improvement, there is a growing resources to do extensive multi- recognition and interest in farmer location testing of varieties, covering participatory approaches in response to all possible variable environments. the challenge of making agriculture Hence, this kind of a formal approach more sustainable (Witcombe et al., poorly addressed the actual needs and 1996). Although the social distance of preferences of farmers since they only scientists from farmers varies from had the options to accept or reject a crop to crop, there is a possibility of few finished crop varieties at a very considering farmers as partners in crop later stage in the crop improvement improvement programs from the initial program. This so-called cultivar stages of breeding and selections development work is justified when a (Witcombe, 1996). crop is grown in large, ecologically homogenous production environments. There are many variants of farmer Although it may be possible to participatory approaches in crop overcome some of the related problems improvement. These approaches based by conducting on-farm varietal testing, on the local crop improvement that that also tends to be very resource benefit from contribution by both plant intensive, especially in developing breeder and farmer (Soleri et al., country setting. For this reason, most 2000). This can potentially result in plant breeding programs base their varieties adapted to the needs of selection decisions on data generated farmers with low resources in highly through on-station trials. This can lead stress- prone environments, and lead to to problems, because research has enhanced on-farm ( in-situ ) shown that varieties often perform conservation of crop genetic resources differently under farmers’ management (Almekinders & Louwaars, 1999). practices than they do under researchers’ management practices Definitions and Strategies (Almerkinders & Louwaars, 1999). The lack of consensus about Faced with the evidence that MVs terminology is common when a new developed for favorable production science is at its early stages, and conditions have not always diffused Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) is readily into marginal environments, no exception (Sperling et al., 2001). plant breeders started searching Terms commonly used include, strategies to overcome the problems Informal Research & Development related to varietal development.

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