This article examines differences in the research approaches of farmers and scientists and analyzes how these differences are related to the conditions under which both groups engage in experimental work. Theoretical considerations as well as practical experiences are presented to emphasize the great potential of farmer-researcher collaboration for rural innovation. In the first part of the article, the innovative power of farmer research and experimentation is acknowledged by presenting examples such as crop and animal breeding, development of new production systems, farm equipment, and social innovations. Considering the respective comparative advantages of farmers and scientists, and inspired by theoretical concepts in the fields of knowledge management and innovation processes, we discuss five topics for optimizing the collaboration between farmers and scientists in the field of technological innovation: user orientation, decentralization, informal modes of experimentation, externalization of tacit knowledge, and economic considerations. A better understanding of such issues could help researchers to define their own role in the research process, acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of their own and farmers' research approaches, overcome communication gaps, and find creative solutions for problems that typically occur in the process of participatory technology development.
Africa do not adequately reflect the landraces' discrete genetic identities. Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] landraces provide To understand the dynamics of local crop diversity, nutritional quality and security under the harsh environmental conditions of Rajasthan, India. Using amplified fragment length polymor-an interdisciplinary approach is required in which the phism (AFLP), this study investigated pearl millet genetic diversity disparate elements of population genetics, environmenpatterns and related the results to farmers' local knowledge and seed tal and social aspects, farmers' own local knowledge, systems. Thirty-nine cultivars were assessed: 14 farmer landraces from and the circumstances of their seed systems, are all intewestern Rajasthan, 13 farmer landraces from eastern Rajasthan, and grated (Brown, 2000). By this approach, effective in 12 control cultivars. Shannons' information index for western (H ϭ situ conservation strategies can be developed that will 0.34) and eastern (H ϭ 0.32) Rajasthan landraces was up to 14% prevent loss of diversity in farmers' fields and help sushigher than in composite-based improved cultivars. Analysis of moletain the processes of evolution, namely, the adaptation cular variance (AMOVA) revealed that variation within landrace popuof crops to their changing environments (Brush, 1991).lations was much higher than between regional samples. In the west, intra-village variation was higher than inter-village variation. In the Pearl millet is a hermaphroditic species with strong east, variation between landrace groups bearing a specific name was protogyny and cross pollination of up to 82% (Burton, higher than intra-group variation. Gene flow, inferred from genetic 1974). Leuck and Burton (1966) have shown that wind distances between populations, was used as an indicator for seed is the main factor responsible for pollen dispersal. Pearl exchange between farmers. In western Rajasthan, seed exchange apmillet is the staple food of the semiarid state of Rajaspears to be especially dynamic, as gene flow was greater than N e m ϭ than in northwest India. The adoption rate of improved 25 among most of its populations. Farmers' knowledge of local culticultivars in Rajasthan has been relatively slow, particuvars and seed systems was, for the most part, supported by the AFLP larly in the dry western region which lies in the transition analysis. These results are relevant for in situ maintenance and breedzone of the Thar Desert (Kelley et al., 1996; Tripp and ing strategies with a view to improving traditional cultivars, specifically performance and yielding stability. K. vom Brocke, Centre de Coopé ration Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Dé veloppement (CIRAD) 01 BP. 596, Ouaga-
Farmers in western Rajasthan (north‐west India) produce and maintain their landrace populations of pearl millet through their own distinct seed management practices. The objective of this study was to characterize morphological and agronomic variability of different traits between and within three farmers' populations using quantitative‐genetic parameters. Populations examined were a typical landrace and two modified landraces, which were generated through farmer introgression of modern varieties with different levels of subsequent selection. From these three populations, 100 random full‐sib progenies were evaluated in field trials at two locations in western Rajasthan over two years. Significant genetic variation existed within the three populations. Estimates of heritability were moderate to high for all observed traits. Predicted selection response for grain yield across environments was 1.6% for the typical landrace and 2.2% for both the modified landraces. Results suggest that the introgression of modern varieties into landraces had increased the genetic diversity. Therefore, farmers' current breeding activities could open up new resources for plant breeding programmes aiming at plant improvement for the semiarid zones of India.
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R.Br.) is the staple food and fodder crop of farmers in the semi-arid areas of northwest India. The majority of farmers in western Rajasthan depend on their own seed production and employ different seed production strategies that involve different levels of modern-variety introgression into landraces as well as different selection methods. This study quantifies the effects of three seed management strategies on environmental adaptation and trait performance. Forty-eight entries representing farmers' grain stocks-pure landraces or landraces with introgressed germplasm from modern varieties-as well as 33 modern varieties, multiplied by breeders or farmers, were evaluated in field trials at three different locations over two years under varying drought-stress conditions. Results indicate that the plant characteristics employed by farmers in describing adaptive value and productivity is an effective approach in discriminating the type of millet adapted to stress and non-stress conditions. It was also found that introgression of modern varieties (MVs) leads to populations with a broader adaptation ability in comparison to pure landraces or MVs alone-but only if MV introgression is practised regularly and is combined with mass panicle selection. Under high-rainfall conditions, farmer grain stocks with MV introgression show similar productivity levels as modern varieties. Under lessening rainfall, pure landraces show, in tendency, higher grain yields. In conclusion, farmers' seed management could form an integral part of participatory breeding programs.
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