The Gatekeeper Series of the Sustainable Agriculture Programme is produced by the
International Institute for Environment and Development to highlight key topics in the field
of sustainable agriculture. The Series is aimed at policy makers, researchers, planners and
extension workers in government and non-government organizations worldwide. Each paper
reviews a selected issue of contemporary importance and draws preliminary conclusions of
relevance to development activities. References are provided to important sources and
background material. The Swedish International Development Authority and the Ford
Foundation fund the series.

Angelique Haugerud is Assistant Professor of. 'h,iii, '"l'. Yale University, Box 2114 Yale
Station, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, U SA and Michael P Collinson is Science Adviser in
the CGIAR Secretariat, 1818H St. NW, Washington DC 20433. US A.

This is an abbreviated version of a paper by the authors entitled "Plants, genes and people:
improving the relevance of plant breeding in Aifrica ". which appeared in Experimental Agricul-
ture (1990), Volume 26, pp 341-362. Experimental Agriculture is published by Cambridge
University Press. We are gratefid fbr permission to reproduce parts of this article.


1991


GATEKEEPER SERIES NO. SA30