Revue et tendances pour la recherche en sélection participative en Afrique de l’Ouest

Abstract

During the past 7-10 years experiments with participatory breeding in West-Africa have diversified considerably. Initially, most programs were focused on involving farmers in evaluating finished varieties, often already released, but not diffused. Based on these largely positive experiences, breeding programs have started to experiment with participatory approaches in the other stages of a plant breeding program as well. Most of these programs have not reached a stage where genetic gains can be evaluated. In most cases indications are strong that gains from farmers’ mass selection are at least similar to those of breeders. Thus the success of participatory plant breeding programs depends largely on appropriate divisions of tasks and responsibilities between producers and researchers according to everyone’s comparative advantage. In addition to achieving genetic gains in new farmer-preferred varieties, participatory breeding programs tend to address a range of other diverse goals, such as strengthening farmers’ capacities, conserving biodiversity or addressing poverty-related issues directly. The review shows that participatory selection programs have the capacity to address this multitude of goals while creating varietal improvements