Participatory Variety Selection: A Tool to Understand Farmers′ Potato Variety Selection Criteria

Abstract

Although the Ethiopian potato program has released more than 30 new varieties, selected primarily for yield potential and late blight tolerance, the majority of farmers still choose to grow older 'local varieties'. Cognizant of this, the current study aimed to identify traits that farmers consider most important when deciding which varieties to grow. The study was conducted at two sites in northwest Ethiopia, representing two major agroecological zones, in two distinct growing seasons, using a participatory variety selection approach. Diseasefree seed tubers of nine local and three new varieties were planted. Twenty-three traits were found to influence the varieties that farmers selected and seven of them differed between agroecological zones. Gender differences were also observed for three of the 23 traits at Laigaint (submoist cool agroecology). Of the 23 traits, 12 were considered very important in one or both of the agroecological zones as well as in at least one growing season. At present eight of these 12 traits are not given high priority by the Ethiopian potato variety selection program. The results show that farmers' selection criteria are very diverse, that no variety possesses all desirable characteristics, and that there is a need for selecting varieties adapted to different agroecologies and growing seasons. This study further suggests that taking farmer interests into account is important for a highly heterozygous, clonally-propagated crop like potato to be accepted by farmers.

Evaluation of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties for Yield and Some Agronomic Traits

“…The varieties Bedassa, Chiro, Wechecha, AL-624, Gabissa and Nech Abeba and three other varieties matured in less than 100 days and could be grouped under early maturity varieties according to the Acquisition and Distribution Unit (2009) and Mihovilovich et al (2014) maturity classes. Based on other study carried by Kolech et al (2017) most of the varieties included in this study were grouped in to early and medium early maturity classes. Some of the potato varieties had variations for flowering and maturity at the two locations but a few varieties such as Bubu and Menagesha showed stability for days to 50% flowering.…”

Groundnut production constraints and farmers’ trait preferences: a pre-breeding study in Togo

“…One widely adopted strategy is the participatory rural appraisal (PRA), which is intended to enable local farmers’ participation to conduct their own analysis and to influence the direction of the research [ 3 , 4 ]. Farmers’ participation guarantees that the new developed technologies will be easily adopted and farmers could play a key role in the diffusion of those technologies [ 5 , 6 ]. In the case of plant breeding, the direct involvement of farmers as an integral part of the process ensures the participation of the most important stakeholders in the breeding activities [ 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Farmers’ participation guarantees that the new developed technologies will be easily adopted and farmers could play a key role in the diffusion of those technologies [ 5 , 6 ]. In the case of plant breeding, the direct involvement of farmers as an integral part of the process ensures the participation of the most important stakeholders in the breeding activities [ 6 , 7 ]. The objective of almost all the participatory breeding approaches has been to incorporate farmers’ knowledge and preferences into the breeding program in order to develop new varieties that will not be rejected by them [ 8 – 11 ].…”

On-Farm Demonstration of Improved Rice (Oryza sativa L) Varieties in Pawe Woreda of Metekel Zone, Ethiopia

“…Farmers have their preference criteria to accept and use a specific variety or technology (Semagn et al, 2017). The finding of this study suggests that farmers in the area seek specific varietal traits, such as yield potential, tolerance to disease better price and color.…”