The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective

Abstract

Matching crop varieties to their target use context and user preferences is a challenge faced by many plant breeding programs serving smallholder agriculture. Numerous participatory approaches proposed by CGIAR and other research teams over the last four decades have attempted to capture farmers’ priorities/preferences and crop variety field performance in representative growing environments through experimental trials with higher external validity. Yet none have overcome the challenges of scalability, data validity and reliability, and difficulties in capturing socio-economic and environmental heterogeneity. Building on the strengths of these attempts, we developed a new data-generation approach, called triadic comparison of technology options (tricot). Tricot is a decentralized experimental approach supported by crowdsourced citizen science. In this article, we review the development, validation, and evolution of the tricot approach, through our own research results and reviewing the literature in which tricot approaches have been successfully applied. The first results indicated that tricot-aggregated farmer-led assessments contained information with adequate validity and that reliability could be achieved with a large sample. Costs were lower than current participatory approaches. Scaling the tricot approach into a large on-farm testing network successfully registered specific climatic effects of crop variety performance in representative growing environments. Tricot’s recent application in plant breeding networks in relation to decision-making has (i) advanced plant breeding lines recognizing socio-economic heterogeneity, and (ii) identified consumers’ preferences and market demands, generating alternative breeding design priorities. We review lessons learned from tricot applications that have enabled a large scaling effort, which should lead to stronger decision-making in crop improvement and increased use of improved varieties in smallholder agriculture.

Development of portfolio management tools in crop breeding programs: a case study of cassava in sub-Saharan Africa

“…This information will be integrated with known facts to further enrich and make the system more relevant and practical. For example, new scaled and systematized participatory citizen science approaches to participatory variety selection have been identified as a way to create a network of users to socially inclusively engage value chain actors as citizen scientists (van Etten et al, 2020;de Sousa et al, 2024) as well as feedback from seed businesses. Product development success has been linked to team effectiveness, which can be connected to team composition, participation of relevant stakeholders, and effective communication and coordination across various entities, roles, and disciplines (Edmondson and Nembhard, 2009;.…”

Gender mainstreaming in sweetpotato breeding and dissemination in Ghana and Malawi

“…However, they often present challenges with respect to practicality and generating results that are easy to analyze and highly informative. The triadic comparison of technologies (tricot) is a citizen science method that provides a data-driven approach to on-farm and consumer sensory testing ( de Sousa et al, 2024 ). The method uses an incomplete block design which allows individual farmers or consumers to compare varieties (or other technologies) in groups of three, by simply ranking them with regards to characteristics of importance.…”

“…The development of the tricot citizen science method overcomes this concern, providing informative, statistically-sound analyses based on gender-disaggregated preference ranking by a large number of farmers or consumers. Key factors that contribute to rank differences in preferences in trials are detected using the Plackett-Luce analysis of results ( de Sousa et al, 2024 ). Tricot is a convenient, effective, citizen science method for engaging farmers, processors, and others in the evaluation of technical options, e.g., varieties.…”

“…However, efforts by CGIAR breeding programs to encourage its adoption are already gaining traction in some national programs. It is essential to ensure adequate budgets for this approach, which has been shown to be more cost effective than traditional approaches to on-farm testing ( de Sousa et al, 2024 ).…”

Gender-inclusive consumer studies improve cassava breeding in Nigeria

“…Tricot Model Cassava farmers (male, female and youths) managed and assessed 3 pre-released varieties of cassava throughout the value chain to determine which variety is best, intermediate and worst, based on preferred traits. This model informs the breeders and the variety release committee of the desired traits by gender (de Souza et al, 2024). The trial could not always be implemented for a year, as some volunteers were migrants who rent land.…”