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Comparing and Integrating
Farmers’ and Breeders’
Evaluations of Maize Varieties in
East Africa
While Kenyan farmers still grow many traditional maize varieties, they
increasingly face soil, pest and environmental constraints to crop productivity.
Most of the popular improved varieties were released more than 15 years ago, and
an 18-year-old variety still accounts for half of the maize seed sales. The
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), therefore, started
a breeding program in East Africa where farmers are engaged much earlier in the
selection process, leading to the evaluation of entries by many people in several
locations. The approach requires a more systematic and quantitative methodology
than the classical participatory approach, where farmers are only asked to evaluate
varieties at the very last stages. Farmers and multidisciplinary teams have now
collaborated for more than three years, trying different approaches and updating
the methods continuously.Sufficient material is currently available to begin a critical review, pertaining to
three key questions:Comparing and Integrating
Farmers’ and Breeders’
Evaluations of Maize Varieties in
East Africa
| • | Are the methods appropriate and appreciated by all partners involved? |
| • | Is the information gathered complementary to classical breeders’ selection data? |
| • | Does the method improve the selection and increase the adoption rate? |
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