The potential economic impact of guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: Comparing research paradigms

Rural Malians who grow dryland crops depend on sorghum as a primary food staple. Despite steady advances in sorghum research, in this risk-prone environment, achieving major gains in national sorghum yields has posed a challenge. We assess the potential economic impact of the first, Guinea-race sorghum hybrids produced and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralized, farmer-managed seed systems. We compare this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralized, state-managed seed system, which was the approach pursued prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augment the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages in the high-potential sorghum production zone serves as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids is a sound investment, but particularly when combined with locally-based mechanisms for disseminating seed. In part, this finding reflects the fact that despite many years of efforts aimed at liberalizing the seed sector in Mali, the sorghum seed system remains largely farmer-based

“An Be Jigi”: Collective cooking, whole grains, and technology transfer in Mali

This paper addresses how available resources, food security, technology, and culture are shaping the choices rural Malian women are making to ensure the health, energy, and well-being of their families. This research contributed to evaluating an eight-year research project (An Be Jigi) targeting improved nutrition. The study, performed over four months, used semi-structured interviews of 120 women in six villages in Mali to assess the identified issues with qualitative and quantitative approaches. This paper describes the history of the An Be Jigi project, whole-grain processing techniques, and group cooking for knowledge sharing with rural women for improved nutrition. Interviews revealed substantial adoption of whole-grain processing techniques and women’s appreciation of the nutritional benefits of those techniques. The women engaged in group cooking (cuisines collectives) appreciated the activities and mentioned multiple benefits from using them. Women identified access to mills, and to some extent the social stigma of laziness and poverty associated with whole-grain food, as limiting factors of adoption. This study of women’s practices and perceptions regarding use of whole grain tells a story of changing consumption habits being shaped by culture, technology, knowledge, and available resources. Malian women are agents of change and care in their adoption of new techniques and recipes for the improved nutrition of young children and households

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

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

The potential economic impact of Guinea-race sorghum hybrids in Mali: A comparison of research and development paradigms

Rural Malians depend on sorghum as a staple food. Despite long-term investment in sorghum improvement, achieving major gains in sorghum yields has posed challenges. We assessed the potential economic impact of the first Guinea-race sorghum hybrids developed and diffused using participatory plant breeding with decentralised, farmer-based seed systems. We compared this approach to formal plant breeding with a centralised, state-managed seed system – the sole approach pursued in Mali prior to 2000. To incorporate risk, we augmented the economic surplus model by applying Monte Carlo sampling to simulate distributions of model parameters. A census of sorghum varieties in 58 villages of the Sudanese Savanna served as the adoption baseline. Our findings indicate that research on sorghum hybrids with the new approach is a sound investment. Public and private actors need to continue investing in innovative ways to expand the sorghum seed system. The sensitivity of results to the price elasticity of supply suggests commercialisation opportunities

Phosphorus uptake and use efficiency of diverse West and Central African sorghum genotypes under field conditions in Mali

Aims Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], a staple crop in West and Central Africa (WCA), is mostly cultivated on soils with low phosphorus (P) availability and thus adaptation to those conditions is vital for food security. Assessment of genotypic variation of WCA sorghum for P uptake and P use efficiency is undertaken to understand the diversity available and opportunities for its use. Method We assessed mature plant yield, P uptake and P use efficiency traits of 70 diverse WCA sorghum genotypes under –P (no P fertilization) and + P field conditions in Mali in 2010, to discover differences among all genotypes tested and between and within specific genotype groups. Results Large significant genotypic variation for P uptake and P use efficiency traits were observed for all genotypes among and within landrace and researcher bred pools under –P conditions. P uptake traits had a larger genotypic variation than P use efficiency traits. Landrace genotypes showed generally higher P uptake and grain P concentration while formally bred genotypes exhibited a higher P use efficiency. Photoperiod sensitivity was related to higher P uptake. Conclusion Genotypic selection for P uptake and P use efficiency traits to improve adaptation to low P soils is possible in sorghum. Use and further study of WCA sorghums for adaptation to low P availability is appropriate as this germplasm shows large variation for P uptake and use efficiency and higher levels of P use efficiency than other important cereals

Sorghum cultivation and improvement in West and Central Africa

The diversity of sorghum cultivated in Africa attests to the African origin of this crop. Ten to 25 or more varieties of sorghum may be cultivated as distinct pure stands in a single village in Mali (Siart, 2008) or Burkina Faso (Barro-Kondombo et al., 2010). In Northern Cameroon, varietal mixtures are cultivated, with each mixture containing 12 varieties on average (Barnaud et al., 2006). Farmers have developed strategies for using varietal diversity to minimize risk and maximize productivity in the context of complex and diverse adaptive challenges, strategies developed over several thousand years of cultivating sorghum. The diversity of sorghum types cultivated reflects the wide and contrasting ecosystems in which it is cultivated and the range of ways it is used (Rooney, 2004)..

Breeding Strategies for Adaptation of Pearl Millet and Sorghum to Climate Variability and Change in West Africa

Semi-arid and subhumid West Africa is characterized by high inter-annual rainfall variability, with variable onset of the rainy season, somewhat more predictable endings, and drought or excess water occurrence at any time during the growing season. Climate change is predicted to increase this variability. This article summarizes options for plant breeders to enhance the adaptation of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench) to climate variability in West Africa. Developing variety types with high degrees of heterozygosity and genetic heterogeneity for adaptation traits helps achieving better individual and population buffering capacity. Traits that potentially enhance adaptive phenotypic plasticity or yield stability in variable climates include photoperiod-sensitive flowering, plastic tillering, flooding tolerance, seedling heat tolerance and phosphorus efficiency. Farmer-participatory dynamic gene pool management using broad-based populations and diverse selection environments is useful to develop new diverse germplasm adapted to specific production constraints including climate variability. For sustainable productivity increase, improved cultivars should respond to farmer-adoptable soil fertility management and water harvesting techniques. Larger-scale, on-farm participatory testing will enable assessments of varietal performance under evolving climatic variability, provide perspective on needs and opportunities and enhance adoption. Strengthening seed systems will be required to achieve sustainable impacts

Participatory Approaches in Pearl Millet Breeding

It is the objective of this chapter to explore opportunities for involving farmers in the process of breeding varieties of an open-pollinated crop. We describe and discuss here the methods we used to interact with farmers and report results relevant to pearl millet breeding for Rajasthan. The description and analysis of methods and specific results of farmers participation in this breeding programme is divided into four sections corresponding to the four major stages of the cycle of any breeding programme (Schnell, 1982): evaluating varieties; selection among experimental varieties; generating new variability and segregating populations; and defining goals for the breeding programme. This will facilitate the comparison and application of these results to other situations

Sélection participative des variétés de sorgho à l’aide d’essais multilocaux dans deux zones cibles

Variety development for sorghum requires multi-location testing for yielding ability. In West-Africa, where adaptation to specific zones of rainfall distribution is crucial for the success of a variety, these multi-location trials need to be conducted within any specific zone of adaptation. As most West-African countries lack sufficient research station capacity for this type of yield testing, we have developed a trial design and experiments with a sharing of roles and responsibilities between farmers, NGO's and researchers that allow for effective varietal differentiation in the target environment across a wide range of production conditions within a zone. The added advantage of farmer participation in this early stage of variety evaluation is that farmers also evaluate a wide range of other traits that are essential for making a variety a success