A New Approach

Since 1988, the National Plant Genetic Resources Center/Ethiopia (PGRC/E) has been implementing a revolutionary new approach to plant genetic resource conservation and use. It is revolutionary not because its activities are new--farmer seed conservation and breeding has been the norm for millennia--but because it reverses the standard interaction between national breeding programs and farmers. On a network of 21 farms in drought-prone areas of two provinces, PGRC/E is involved in on-farm landrace conservation and breeding programs focussed on sorghum, chickpeas, teff, field peas, and corn.

From seeds collected in the region and the seeds they were already growing, farmers associations have selected the best varieties. Toegether with PGRC/E scientists, they have also undertaken simple forms of mass selection to improve each season's crop production. Representative samples of the original seed stock are planted alongside the selected material to help farmers critically evaluate their selection, and maintain the original stock in its natural environment. The on-farm work also helps scientists understand the farming systems used with each of the varieties that are being collected. Certain types of cultivars that were adapted by the farmer but later abandoned to reduce risks of crop failure or avoid marketing problems are also saved in the PGRC/E genebank.

Farmers have also helped maintain and select elite indigenous material being developed by national agricultural researchers. Farmers receive a number of lines of indigenous wheat varieties that breeders are developing for specific conditions. From these, the farmers select and then multiply the seeds that best meet their own needs. PGRC/E provides guidance on conservation, selection, use, and distribution.

Future Plans and Needs

PGRC/E plans to increase the number of farmers involved in its work and to expand the program to cover a broad range of agro-ecological conditions in the country. Eventually, it hopes to extend the program to cover other aspects of genetic-resource conservation, including in situ conservation of forage species and wild relatives of cultivated plants. A substantial amount of the in situ conservation work pays for itself since the farmers prefer the landraces to the input-intensive modern varieties. But the program requires financial and other inputs to help farmers assume a custodian role for genetic diversity.