Farmers' Perceptions, Production and Productivity Constraints
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HORTSCIENCE 50(1):36–43. 2015. There are varied preferences and needs by end users for crop cultivars. For instance, for industrial starch production, sweetpotato cul- Farmers’ Perceptions, Production and tivars are required to have high dry matter content, whereas cultivars for human con- Productivity Constraints, Preferences, sumption should have other traits such as attractive skin and flesh color, good cooking and Breeding Priorities of Sweetpotato quality, and high b-carotene, among others. Sweetpotato cultivars intended for animal feed should have high protein content (Lebot, in Rwanda 2009). Therefore, sweetpotato breeding should Rukundo Placide1, Hussein Shimelis, and Mark Laing involve the needs of stakeholders in the de- African Centre for Crop Improvement, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private veloping of new cultivars and new agricultural technologies to meet their diverse requirements Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (Atlin et al., 2001; Rees et al., 2003). Daphrose Gahakwa Agricultural technologies developed through participatory research have a greater chance of Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), P.O. Box 5016, Kigali-Rwanda adoption and diffusion by farmers because they Additional index words. breeding priorities, farmers’ preferences, production constraints, are developed in response to local constraints sweetpotato and meet end users’ needs and preferences (Ashby and Lilja, 2004). Various research Abstract. The role of farmers and their production constraints and preferences are approaches have been reported in participatory important for sweetpotato breeding and adoption of cultivars and agronomic production breeding of new crop cultivars, including con- packages. The objective of this study was to assess farmers’ perception, production sultative approaches, collaborative approaches, constraints, preferences, and breeding priorities of sweetpotato in selected agro-ecologies collegial approaches, and farmer experimenta- of Rwanda. A total of 495 farmers were surveyed in 2013 in eight representative districts: tion (Ashby and Lilja, 2004). Advantages of Bugesera and Kayonza in the Eastern Province, Gakenke and Rulindo in the Northern farmer participatory research include: 1) codefi- Province, and Gisagara, Huye, and Muhanga in the Southern Province. Data were nition of breeding objectives; 2) participatory collected through a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methodology using a semi- evaluation of germplasm; 3) identification of structured questionnaire and focus group discussions. Pairwise comparison of 16 food breeding priorities; and 4) participatory selection crops allocated sweetpotato as one of the five important food crops for food security and of promising progenies (Ceccarelli and Grando, income generation. Drought stress, unavailability of improved cultivars and planting 2009). In one case, the incorporation of partic- material, and pest and disease damage were perceived to be the five main constraints ipatory approaches into conventional breeding limiting sweetpotato production, contributing to 17.3%, 15.0%, 12.9%, 11.7%, and programs reduced the time taken for cultivar 11.5%, respectively. The most important sweetpotato cultivar traits had high yield, early development from 9 to 6 years (Lilja and maturity, drought tolerance, disease and pest tolerance, and good culinary taste at Aw-Hasaan, 2003). 22.5%, 18.5%, 15.4%, 12.7%, and 10.1%, respectively. The characteristics of good In sweetpotato breeding, farmers’ knowl- storage roots identified by farmers included high dry matter content, good culinary taste, edge and experience during preliminary good shape, root size, and sweetness representing 27.4%, 18.8%, 16.1%, 11.6%, and on-farm and on-station evaluations may enable 9.4%, respectively. Each agro-ecological zone has its own specific sweetpotato production quick identification of promising genotypes constraints and farmers’ preferences, necessitating targeted breeding of different (Abidin et al., 2005). Song (1998) reported that sweetpotato cultivars for each agro-ecological zone for enhanced productivity and the end users’ participation in the improvement successful adoption of cultivars. of seed systems led to the efficient use of national genetic resources and promoted their production. In selection of high-yielding ge- Globally the demand for quantity and among these strategies (Brown and Funk, notypes, Ceccarelli et al. (2009) observed that quality food is fast increasing as a result of 2008). farmers have the same selection ability as population growth, limited water and land, Participatory plant breeding is usually breeders. Therefore, close collaboration be- and overexploitation of available resources conducted to ensure adoption of newly de- tween farmers and breeders is necessary to (Godfray et al., 2010; Tilman et al., 2001). veloped crop cultivars and their production speed up the breeding process and to respond Moreover, global climate change aggravates packages by smallholder farmers of marginal to appropriate needs of stakeholders. the biotic and abiotic stresses on food crops agro-ecological and socioeconomic groups Application of participatory research requires (Tester and Langridge, 2010). These envi- (Ceccarelli et al., 2007). In the past, plant integrated skills (Ceccarelli et al., 2009). A ronmental changes will negatively affect breeding focused on developing high-yielding careful choice of research goals, target environ- crop production and food security. Therefore, and improved crop cultivars in favorable envi- ments, and selection of partners are critical steps novel mitigation strategies are required to ronments and under controlled experimental of participatory research. It also demands a sys- boost crop productivity and ensure food situations (Ba¨nziger and Cooper, 2001). As tematic understanding of different types of security. Improved and resilient crop culti- such, conventional plant breeding did not participatory research approaches to select the vars and their production technologies are consider farmers’ preferences and attributes, most appropriate tools (Ashby and Lilja, 2004) locally available germplasm, and the real such as participatory rural appraisal, focus conditions of small-scale farmers in pursuit group discussions, participatory selection in of developing crop cultivars for broad adap- segregating populations, and participatory cul- Received for publication 24 Sept. 2014. Accepted tation (Ceccarelli et al., 2000; Witcombe tivar testing and selection (Sperling et al., 2001). for publication 18 Nov. 2014. et al., 1996). These failures to engage with Sweetpotato is an important food and feed The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa the realities faced by local farmers have been crop in sub-Sahara Africa and ranks fourth (AGRA) is thanked for providing financial support identified as the primary causes for the con- after maize, bananas, and cassava (FAOSTAT, of the study. The first author thanks the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) for offering the study sistently low adoption of newly developed 2013). It yields considerably well in poor soils leave. Dr. Twabagire Barnabe is acknowledged for ‘‘improved’’ crop cultivars and their produc- and tolerates extreme weather conditions transport support during the conduct of this study. tion packages released by government and unsuitable to other food crops such as maize 1To whom reprint requests should be addressed; NGO scientists (Adesina and Baidu-Forson, and banana (Woolfe, 1992). Therefore, it has e-mail [email protected]. 1995). an important role in food security in many 36 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 50(1) JANUARY 2015 rural families of drought-affected environ- Kayonza districts of Eastern Province, used in the survey to collect information ments (Bashaasha et al., 1995). Rwanda is the Gakenke and Rulindo districts of Northern related to the importance of sweetpotato, third in sweetpotato production in East Africa Province, and Gisagara, Huye, and Muhanga constraints affecting sweetpotato production, and the first in per-capita consumption of districts of the Southern Province of Rwanda characteristics of good cultivars, and good sweetpotato in Africa (Chassy et al., 2008). (Fig. 1). These districts were selected because storage roots, farmers’ agronomic practices, More than 95% of Rwandan farmers grow of the importance of sweetpotato production and sources of planting materials. sweetpotato for household food security in their food production (Ndamage et al., Different PRA approaches were applied (Njeru et al., 2008). During the farming 1992). Agriculture is the main economic to identify periods of sweetpotato production, seasons many rural families rely on sweet- activity of the selected districts, employing food availability across the year, the impor- potato because of a shortage of other food more than 90% of the population. In these tance of sweetpotato in food security and security crops such as cassava, potato, ba- districts farmers grow many food crops income generation, farmers’ preferences, the nana, and maize (Gibson et al., 2004; Njeru including beans, sorghum, sweetpotato, ba- most serious constraints affecting sweetpo- et al., 2008). As a result of its high pro- nanas, and maize (NISR, 2010). The Rwanda tato, and the role of gender in sweetpotato ductivity per unit area and continuous avail- Agricultural Board (RAB) has promoted production. Seasonal calendar analyses were ability, sweetpotato is an ideal food crop for cultivation of sweetpotato in these areas to used to identify