PLANTS, GENES AND PEOPLE:
 IMPROVING THE RELEVANCE OF
 PLANT BREEDING




Introduction

Plant breeding dominates international agricultural research, accounting for some 50% of the
budgets of the International Agricultural Research Centres. Recent innovations in breeding
programmes for developing nations highlight differences in selection criteria between farmers
and scientists, and among farmers themselves. Scientists' and farmers' assessments of new crop
varieties diverge, not because farmers lack formal scientific knowledge, but because scientists
often fail to use farmers' knowledge and to accommodate their constraints. Farmers' own cultivar
preferences vary according to characteristics such as farm size, family structure, gender, wealth,
and market opportunities.

Overlooking both types of divergence in breeding criteria carries the twin risks of releasing new
crop varieties farmers do not adopt, and rejecting germplasm farmers find valuable. Ignoring the
differences can also mean a breeding programme's new cultivars reach only a narrow range of
farmers. This paper addresses ways to reduce such risks.


Plant Breeding and the IARCs in Africa

In Africa, the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) have spent more per head,
hectare and tonne of food, with less to show (as yet) for the effort than elsewhere. Africa's position
in the world economy, its diverse environments, economies and sociopolitical systems all contrast
sharply with the conditions of the Asian 'Green Revolution'. Communications, food transport
costs, the means to distribute agricultural inputs on time, water availability, soils and climatic
conditions are all less favourable in Africa than in Asia. Foreign exchange to import chemicals
and fertilizers is scarce, and both foreign and domestic terms of trade often work against
agriculture. African farmers diversify their economic pursuits and limit their dependence on
uncertain markets and government services.

Wheat and rice, Asia's food staples, are luxuries in Africa, yet staples such as sorghum, millet,
cassava, chickpeas and cowpeas have only recently received research attention from both national
programmes and IARCs, as have regions with poor soils and low and unreliable rainfall.

Africa's national research institutions often retain the orientations of western agricultural
education (Collinson, 1988). University agricultural curricula are still centred on large fields,
machines, straight lines and intensive management. These biases threaten the long-term
sustainability of African agricultural systems, and limit the relevance of national and interna-
tional research. Relevance is also jeopardised by a single-discipline focus, narrow peer group
evaluation, unquestioning adherence to inherited breeding strategies, and inadequate exposure of


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