RETHINKING THE FARMERS ROLE IN PLANT-BREEDING - LOCAL BEAN EXPERTS AND ON-STATION SELECTION IN RWANDA

Varietal selection is particularly difficult for very heterogeneous en vironments where farmers have a range of preferences. To address these issues in Rwanda, local bean experts, generally women, are invited to the research station to assess cultivars and to select those they pre fer for their plots. Farmers use observed yield as only one of several criteria to predict varietal performance in their more stressed home environments. The varieties they choose are often higher yielding on-f arm and are retained longer by farmers than those selected by the bree ders. The results of early farmer involvement also compare favourably with those of the standard breeding programme in terms of enhanced gen etic diversity and reduced research costs. There are few pre-condition s for developing such a client-driven breeding programme.