Participatory research on bovine trypanosomiasis was conducted with Orma pastoralists in Tana River District, Kenya. The use of participatory methods to understand local perceptions of disease signs, disease causes, disease incidence by cattle age group, seasonal patterns of disease and preferences for indigenous and modern control methods are described. Results indicated that local characterization of diseases called gandi and buku by Orma pastoralists was similar to modern veterinary knowledge on chronic trypanosomiasis and haemorrhagic trypanosomiasis (due to Trypanosoma vivax), respectively. The mean incidence of gandi varied from 10.2% in calves to 28.6% in adult cattle. The mean incidence of buku varied from 3.1% in calves to 9.6% in adults. Pearson correlation coefficients for disease incidence by age group were 0.498 (P < 0.01) and 0.396 (P < 0.05) for gandi and buku, respectively. Informants observed cases of trypanosomiasis in 24.1% of cattle (all age groups); these cases accounted for 41.8% of all sick cattle during the preceding 12-month period. Eight indigenous and three modern trypanosomiasis control methods were identified. Results indicated that an integrated approach to trypanosomiasis control based on private, individual action was well established in the assessment area. When presented with four different trypanosomiasis control methods, community representatives selected 'better use of trypanocides' as the most preferred intervention and 'community-based tsetse control' as the least preferred intervention. This finding prompted researchers to modify the original project activities. Constraints facing the sustainability of community-based tsetse control are discussed.

Participatory investigations of bovine trypanosomiasis in Tana River District, Kenya

Sorghum improvement in the SADC/ICRISAT Sorghum and Mil let Improvement Program (SMIP) has used a regional, collaborative, multidisciplinary approach since its inception. In the 15-year period from 1983/84 to 1997/98, improved varieties and hybrids were developed, widely tested, and released in eight SADC countries. Breeding, crop protection, and crop management research focused on drought tolerance, early maturity, grain and fodder productivity, and resistance to downy mildew, leaf blight, sooty stripe, and Striga. We also evaluated the grain for food, malting, and feed qualities. The program has made significant achievements in germplasm movement and utilization; cultivar development, testing, and release; assessment of grain qualities for different end uses; strengthening research capacities in the national programs; and strengthening linkages with NGOs, seed companies in Zimbabwe and South Africa, millers in Botswana and Zimbabwe, breweries and feed companies in Zimbabwe, farmers' organizations, and universities. More than 12 000 sorghum germpiasm accessions were assembled from all over the world and made accessible to NARS for sorghum improvement. From these, 10 075 enhanced breeding lines, 4634 populations, 379 hybrid parents, and 3436 experimental hybrids were developed and samples distributed to Angola (100), Botswana (2398), Lesotho (681), Malawi (1449), Mozambique (322), Namibia (139), South Africa (147), Swaziland (326), Tanzania (3702), Zambia (5330), and Zimbabwe (3930). A total of 27 improved varieties and hybrids were released in eight SADC countries: Botswana (three varieties and one hybrid), Malawi (two varieties), Mozambique (three varieties), Namibia (one variety), Swaziland (three varieties), Tanzania (two varieties), Zambia (three varieties and three hybrids), and Zimbabwe (five varieties and one hybrid). However, of these 27 improved varieties only 9 (33%) are cultivated on about 20-30% of the sorghum areas in six countries. Five sources of resistance to three Striga species were identified. Twenty-three drought-tolerant male parents (R-lines) and 36 female parents (A-lines) with their maintainer (B-lines) parents were developed and are presently being used by South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe in their hybrid development programs. As a result of grain quality assessment of more than 2500 improved sorghum genotypes, including the 27 releases and 100 indigenous varieties used by farmers, more cultivars were released that have been adopted by farmers. Consequent to farmer participatory variety selection outcomes, three countries are now retargeting their breeding approaches. Training in seed production and pollination techniques was provided regionally to country representatives, and in-country training was provided in Botswana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Areas where progress has been difficult include increasing productivity of the improved cultivars, and seed production and distribution. SMIP has also helped identify future research needs and options for commercialization of sorghum in each country.

/pdf/international-sorghum-and-millets-newsletter-2vyapsqguz.pdf

International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter

Crop improvement and seed supply are central activities in agricultural development. Many interventions have sought to involve farmers more closely in crop development and seed supply, to improve the effectiveness of plant science, enhance biodiversity conservation, or empower farmers, with Participatory Plant Breeding' (PPB) being the most recent strategy for reform. However, there is little critical analysis of the existing technical and institutional practices of formal systems, and almost no knowledge at all of farmers' own strategies for accessing and using crop genetic resources. For these reasons, interventions risk being mis-directed. Moreover, without a broad analysis of institutions and policies, interventions may result lead to only temporary change, at best. This research analyses both farmer and formal seed systems for sorghum in Ethiopia , identifying the specific challenges they face, set in historical, social, and institutional context. This is rarely done in discussions of reform, and suggests different that different types of interventions are needed than usually promoted by PPB, or other participatory reforms. Using practice and path-dependency as analytical starting points, this thesis explores the history, policies, key decisions, and institutional cultures in formal breeding and seed supply. Farmers own genetic resource management was directly observed in two communities, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore social relations in seed exchange, seed storage and selection, and pathways of innovation. This broad scaled-approach highlighted how biological and social process interact in genetic resource management, particularly around the institutional forces shaping formal seed system practices, and the importance of social relationships in securing access to seed and germplasm in farmer seed systems. Analysing both seed systems together in this inter-disciplinary fashion offers fresh insights into seed system reform, and highlights key challenges, particularly in relation to securing access to seed and information, appropriate scale of work, and institutional barriers to change.

/pdf/getting-genes-rethinking-seed-system-analysis-and-reform-for-4yr98j00a1.pdf

Getting genes: Rethinking seed system analysis and reform for sorghum in Ethiopia

Keywords: Agro-biodiversity, farmer varieties, indigenous knowledge, farmer-participatory research, genetic diversity, genotype-by-environment interaction, germplasm collection, Ipomoea batatas , specific adaptation, yield stability, sweetpotato, variance component estimates. Between 1999 and 2001, the author conducted various studies, primarily in northeastern Uganda , aimed at rapidly assessing the potential of farmer varieties of sweetpotato ( Ipomoea batatas ) from northeastern Uganda in contributing to the varietal improvement programme in Uganda . These studies included: (i) collection of germplasm (farmer varieties) and farmer knowledge about varieties from five districts in northeastern Uganda; (ii) assessment of morphological diversity and duplication in the collected germplasm; (iii) farmer participatory on-station selection of promising varieties from the collected germplasm for on-farm and multi-locational testing; (iv) farmer-managed on-farm testing in Soroti District (northeastern Uganda) of selected farmer varieties, cultivars from the Ugandan breeding programme and local farmer varieties; (v) multi-locational testing and stability analysis of selected farmer varieties and officially released cultivars from the Ugandan breeding programme in multiple test environments (20 tests over three seasons). Additionally, the author presents results from a multi-national, multi-locational test of elite sweetpotato germplasm in eastern Africa used to study selection efficiency. During germplasm collections, a total of 206 accessions were collected, along with farmer knowledge about them, and of these 188 were classified as distinct accessions, exhibiting considerable morphological variation. Many accessions were collected from remote locations where sweetpotato is not a commercial crop, while relatively few accessions were collected from areas where the crop is important commercially. During the on-station assessment of the collected germplasm, 11 accessions were selected for further testing from a total of 160 accessions evaluated at two sites. Nine of the 11 accessions selected by farmers were common to both sites . Farmer selection criteria were verified, with a high weighting given to fresh storage root yield, storage root number and harvest index, in addition to root dry matter content and appearance. During on-farm trials over two years, the 11 farmer varieties were generally preferred over local varieties, and cultivars from the Ugandan breeding programme. During multi-locational trials, the 11 farmer varieties on average performed better with respect to broad adaptation, specific adaptation and yield stability, than the cultivars from the breeding programme. In addition, some of the farmer varieties showed specific adaptation to local environments. Results of the multi-national trial were analyzed to generate recommendations for optimum selection efficiency, and indicated a two-step selection procedure with two locations and one replication at Selection Step 1 and five locations and two replications at Selection Step 2 (total test capacity of between 450 and 950 plots). During the farmer participatory phases of this research, farmers were highly competent in sweetpotato varietal selection and were aware of the genotype-by-environment interactions and biodiversity. Results illustrate the potential that farmer varieties can have in the improvement of sweetpotato in Uganda and other regions where high diversity of sweetpotato landraces exists, and allowed us to recommend an approach for the rapid and efficient selection of superior genotypes from local germplasm in East Africa

/pdf/sweetpotato-breeding-for-northeastern-uganda-farmer-2n2xopvbx5.pdf

Sweetpotato breeding for northeastern Uganda: farmer varieties, farmer-participatory selection, and stability of performance

There is a growing concern about food security and sustainability of agricultural production in developing countries. However, there are limited attempts to quantify agro-biodiversity losses and relate these losses to soil degradation and crop productivity, particularly in Tigray, Ethiopia. In this study, spatial variation in agro-biodiversity and soil degradation was assessed in 2000 and 2005 at 151 farms in relation to farm, productivity, wealth, social, developmental and topographic characteristics in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. A significant decrease in agro-biodiversity was documented between 2000 and 2005, mainly associated with inorganic fertilizer use, number of credit sources and proximity to towns and major roads. Agro-biodiversity was higher at farms with higher soil fertility (available P and total N) and higher productivity (total caloric crop yield). Low soil organic matter, few crop selection criteria and steep slopes contributed to soil erosion. Sparsely and intensively cultivated land use types, as determined from satellite images, were associated with high and low agro-biodiversity classes, respectively, as determined during on-farm surveys in 2005. This study gives insight into the recent changes in and current status of agro-biodiversity and soil degradation at different spatial scales, which can help to improve food security through the maintenance of agro-biodiversity resources.

/pdf/spatial-variation-in-biodiversity-soil-degradation-and-25i26wrmci.pdf

Spatial variation in biodiversity, soil degradation and productivity in agricultural landscapes in the highlands of Tigray, northern Ethiopia

Farmers' Participatory Varietal Evaluation (PVE) was conducted on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) crops in the Kile-Bisidimo plains of eastern Ethiopia for three consecutive years, 1995–1997. The study aimed at providing farmers with alternatives to their landrace to enable them to overcome crop losses and to identify farmers' varietal selection criteria for inclusion in future breeding work. In 1995 constraints and opportunities in sorghum growing and farmers' varietal matching characteristics were identified through an informal survey. This was followed by a search for varieties and acquisitions of seed. Subsequently, eight varieties were evaluated of which five varieties were released and three were at the pre-release stage.In 1996 and 1997 farmer-managed on-farm trials were conducted and farmers evaluated the performance of the experimental varieties against a locally grown cultivar. Through pairwise and matrix ranking, farmers' selection criteria were listed, preferred varieties identified and initiatives taken to diffuse the varieties through the local seed system. Out of the eight varieties that research workers considered the best, farmers selected only three. The study negated the generally accepted view that farmers in lowland areas of eastern Ethiopia are reluctant to grow short-duration varieties. The selection and introduction of three new varieties into a farming system where farmers were growing only one local variety reconfirmed PVE to be a means for enhancing adoption and increasing genetic diversity. The study also confirmed that increasing farmers' access to their preferred varieties would result in a faster rate of diffusion through farmer-to-farmer seed exchange.

Participatory varietal selection in lowland sorghum in eastern Ethiopia: impact on adoption and genetic diversity.

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Participatory varietal selection in lowland sorghum in eastern Ethiopia: impact on adoption and genetic diversity.