tailieunhanh - BRINGING FARMERS BACK INTO BREEDING - Chapter 4

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF ISSUES EMERGING FROM CASES This chapter reviews and discusses experiences with PPB projects. It draws largely on the case studies discussed above (and set out in more detail in part two of this report) together with some published experiences from other PPB projects. | 4 Analysis and discussion of issues emerging from cases This chapter reviews and discusses experiences with PPB projects. It draws largely on the case studies discussed above and set out in more detail in part two of this report together with some published experiences from other PPB projects. Participation in Breeding The involvement of farmer communities in various aspects of crop improvement is a central aspect of PPB. The way in which the different partners are organised and involved in the breeding process can be seen as the social component of technology development. In other words the analysis of participation in breeding can be seen as the analysis of the social organisation around technology development. We refer here to social organisation and technology in a wide sense social organisation refers to the individual actors and institutions how they relate to each other and to the technology. The technology is seen as a combination of the genetic resources used how they are combined and where and how they are selected multiplied and diffused by the various actors and institutions. When reference is made to communities they are defined as groups of farmers that share a limited geographic space with more or less common physical and economic conditions. PVS The value of farmers participation in variety selection PVS is generally accepted and has been practiced for a long time by both private and public plant breeders as part of their evaluation and validation trials. Materials are tested under local conditions and often compared with local controls. Thus while PVS does not represent a revolutionary departure from earlier practices it has played an important role in sensitising plant breeders to the requirements and preferences of farmers and the potential of local varieties in breeding. Equally important breeders now increasingly recognise farmers capacity to identify good material and take farmers selection criteria more seriously. Through PVS a .