THE DYNAMICS OF CROP INFRASPECIFIC DIVERSITY - A CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORKAT THE FARMER LEVEL

There is an increasing concern over the loss of germplasm diversity in areas of crop domestication. Nevertheless in these areas many farmers continue to maintain a pool of varieties, many of them landraces, des pite the fact that they have also incorporated improved varieties, and that some landraces have been eliminated. This paper provides a frame work for analyzing the decision of a farmer to maintain, incorporate o r discard a variety from his/her repertoire of varieties of one crop. It is based on an analysis of the roles that crop infraspecific divers ity can play in a farmer's well-being, how these roles change, the lim its to these changes, and some predictions and suggestions derived fro m this framework.