135
Modern plant breeding has not yet reached many marginal environments and is
unlikely to reach them in the next couple of decades through conventional
approaches. Research has shown that all over the world, farmers often prefer to
grow traditional varieties despite the availability of more productive technologies
(Jarvis et al. 2011). The reasons for this include the traditional varieties’ better adaptation to prevailing climatic and soil conditions, taste preferences, market preferences, nutritional value, resistance to pests and diseases, and reduced risks. Many
times new technologies are not adopted because of costs or lack of accessibility—or
simply because they do not match farmers’ needs.
Engaging farmers directly in the development of new technologies has many
benefits (Beza et al. 2017). It decentralises crop improvement efforts, reduces costs,
enhances the efficiency of plant breeding, and shortens the time frame for new varieties to be released. It also increases adoption rates, and allows the adoption of a
portfolio of varieties that will enhance resilience in the face of climate unpredictability. Perhaps most importantly, it will maximise yields at any given location
rather than promoting a good average variety.
Another significant advantage is the use of material conserved in national or
international gene banks. This injects into the production systems novel alleles for
adaptation to a number of stresses, biotic and a-biotic, that are lost when only elite
lines are used in the process of breeding. Many of the farmers’ varieties conserved
in the gene banks have been exposed to different pests and pathogens and different
climatic conditions, and as a result have developed alleles that allow them to adapt
to a multitude of conditions. The gene banks, designed mainly as recipient of material to be eventually distributed by breeders, need to rethink their role and become a
source of new traits for farmers and production systems. A shift in the functioning
of the gene banks is already underway in Ethiopia and Uganda, where gene banks
are delivering material to the farmers and are helping to manage community seed
banks.
Once such genetic material is out in the production system, the new alleles in the
varieties selected by farmers may prove very important for breeders. If the varieties
are also investigated using genotyping approaches, this would allow the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for relevant traits and promote marker-assisted
participatory breeding.
The tricot approach has the potential to contribute to making seed systems more
dynamic when demand and supply are put in contact—e.g., using the ClimMob
platform—and more diversified because more varieties per crop will be delivered in
a location-specific way. A more integrated seed system will allow both informal and
formal contributions to the sustainability and resilience of farming system. It also
creates the space for an intermediate seed system in which local seed cooperatives
or community seed banks are involved in the production of preferred seeds that are
identified through the tricot approach. Legislation is being developed in Africa
(including in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) in which seed production rules are
designed to allow those local actors to multiply and sell seeds of certain varieties of
a sufficiently good quality (Quality Declared Seeds or QDS). This legislation favors
11 Generating Farm-Validated Variety Recommendations for Climate Adaptation
Modern plant breeding has not yet reached many marginal environments and is
unlikely to reach them in the next couple of decades through conventional
approaches. Research has shown that all over the world, farmers often prefer to
grow traditional varieties despite the availability of more productive technologies
(Jarvis et al. 2011). The reasons for this include the traditional varieties’ better adaptation to prevailing climatic and soil conditions, taste preferences, market preferences, nutritional value, resistance to pests and diseases, and reduced risks. Many
times new technologies are not adopted because of costs or lack of accessibility—or
simply because they do not match farmers’ needs.
Engaging farmers directly in the development of new technologies has many
benefits (Beza et al. 2017). It decentralises crop improvement efforts, reduces costs,
enhances the efficiency of plant breeding, and shortens the time frame for new varieties to be released. It also increases adoption rates, and allows the adoption of a
portfolio of varieties that will enhance resilience in the face of climate unpredictability. Perhaps most importantly, it will maximise yields at any given location
rather than promoting a good average variety.
Another significant advantage is the use of material conserved in national or
international gene banks. This injects into the production systems novel alleles for
adaptation to a number of stresses, biotic and a-biotic, that are lost when only elite
lines are used in the process of breeding. Many of the farmers’ varieties conserved
in the gene banks have been exposed to different pests and pathogens and different
climatic conditions, and as a result have developed alleles that allow them to adapt
to a multitude of conditions. The gene banks, designed mainly as recipient of material to be eventually distributed by breeders, need to rethink their role and become a
source of new traits for farmers and production systems. A shift in the functioning
of the gene banks is already underway in Ethiopia and Uganda, where gene banks
are delivering material to the farmers and are helping to manage community seed
banks.
Once such genetic material is out in the production system, the new alleles in the
varieties selected by farmers may prove very important for breeders. If the varieties
are also investigated using genotyping approaches, this would allow the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for relevant traits and promote marker-assisted
participatory breeding.
The tricot approach has the potential to contribute to making seed systems more
dynamic when demand and supply are put in contact—e.g., using the ClimMob
platform—and more diversified because more varieties per crop will be delivered in
a location-specific way. A more integrated seed system will allow both informal and
formal contributions to the sustainability and resilience of farming system. It also
creates the space for an intermediate seed system in which local seed cooperatives
or community seed banks are involved in the production of preferred seeds that are
identified through the tricot approach. Legislation is being developed in Africa
(including in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) in which seed production rules are
designed to allow those local actors to multiply and sell seeds of certain varieties of
a sufficiently good quality (Quality Declared Seeds or QDS). This legislation favors
11 Generating Farm-Validated Variety Recommendations for Climate Adaptation