tailieunhanh - BRINGING FARMERS BACK INTO BREEDING - Chapter 7

In the mid 1990s the Netherlands Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN), supported by the Ministry of International Co-operation explored possibilities to initiate projects linking in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity with on-farm PPB, together with local organisations in Meso America. | PART B CASE EXPERIENCES 7 Farmers developing their own adapted bean variety with COLLABORATION OF A BREEDER AND NGO-STAFF AN EXPERIENCE FROM PUEBLO NUEVO NICARAGUA. by Conny Almekinders1 Rolando Herrera2 Julio Molina3 Luis Santos Merlo4 and others 1 Researcher Wageningen University The Netherlands c_almekinders@ 2 Technician CIPRES Office Pueblo Nuevo Nicaragua 3 Researcher Breeder INTA Estili Nicaragua juliomolinac@ 4 Farmer Breeder El Rosario - Pueblo Nuevo Nicaragua Introduction setting the scene Origin of the initiative In the mid 1990s the Netherlands Centre for Genetic Resources CGN supported by the Ministry of International Co-operation explored possibilities to initiate projects linking in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity with on-farm PPB together with local organisations in Meso America. The Nicaragua NGO CIPRES was identified as a potential partner. CIPRES had been involved in on-farm seed-related projects for a number of years and expressed an interest and suggested approaching farmers in the vicinity of Pueblo Nuevo where CIPRES has an office. In 1998 the technicians of CIPRES arranged a meeting in which they asked farmers about their interest in working on a project aimed at developing new locally adapted varieties of bean and maize. Around 60 farmers attended the meeting and 50 of them agreed to participate in the initiative. CIPRES then approached a breeder of INTA Instituto Nicaraguense de Tecnología Agraria for technical support and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with INTA. A project proposal was developed and accepted for funding by the Norwegian Development Fund. The Norwegian Funding stipulated that the project should have a direct impact on the farmers well being. Fig . Pueblo Nuevo and Condega the 2 project sites lie in the Northern part of Nicaragua about 50 km from Estilí 1 h drive .