July 1995
ALEPPO, Syria -- ICARDA, together with German and Syrian partners, is starting a major project that will give farmers the barley varieties they need and want--not the ones that "read" well on paper, or that researchers prefer. Barley will be bred as well as tested in farmers field, producing varieties that farmers have actually selected--not just in ideal conditions on a research station.
The project is called Farmer participation and use of local knowledge in breeding barley for specific adaptation. It is a collaborative project between ICARDA, Syria's Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, and the University of Hohenheim in Germany. It is being generously supported by the German Overseas Development Ministry, BMZ.
Farmers at eight locations in Syria will grow over 200 new lines and compare these with their own--under their own field conditions. The sites all have low rainfall, but there are wide variations between them. The lines will also be grown at ICARDA's research station. Every year, the best lines only will be selected for further evaluation by farmers during the following season. After three years, it is expected that the participants--and their neighbors--will have adopted some of the best lines; and that farmers will have given plant breeders clear indications of what they want from a new barley variety.
The project addresses some of the flaws in conventional plant breeding, which is usually done on wellmanaged research stations. These have all the best agronomic practices and necessary inputs. But, on farms in developing countries, these may be lacking. Breeders also assume that varieties must be suitable for wide geographic areas (broad adaptation). But local varieties often show great diversity in different production areas (specific adaptation). This is not an accident. Biodiversity is crucial, because, if one variety fails through disease or drought, it can be replaced or crossed with another that will give good yields at that location. Farmers have always known this; that is often why they do not adopt a new variety. They know it may not be as welladapted to their particular location as the researchers think.
Moreover, yield tends to be the main criterion in conventional breeding, although stress and disease resistance are also considered. But the farmer may be looking for something more. Through this project, ICARDA's scientists (breeders, livestock feed specialists and agricultural economists/anthropologists) will learn more about what farmers require in a new barley variety.
Transfer/adoption is very important, but it is not the main objective of the project. What is even more important is to understand farmers' perceptions and uses of new technology. For example, some years ago, a highyielding new barley variety called Beecher was introduced in Syria. But farmers found that sheep did not like the fibrous straw that Beecher produced. There was even one, unconfirmed, report of a farmer who said that his sheep's mouths bled when they tried to eat it.
As a result, ICARDA started breeding barley for straw quality, in addition to yield and stress resistance. To establish which straw characteristics were important, it fed a number of varieties to sheep to see how suitable they were; then it analyzed them using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS). This technique, which was modified for strawsampling by ICARDA in collaboration with the University of Hohenheim, allows a straw sample of a new line to be quickly checked to see if it would be suitable for sheep.
The technique will now be applied to all the lines tested to identify characteristics that the participating farmers find attractive. At the same time, there will be research into the characteristics of those lines which are popular with traders in the marketplace. The NIRS results will thus be validated by a mass of carefully obtained data from different users.
If projects like this are successful, there will be major implications for the way in which plant breeding is carried out, making it more cost-effective. And there will be a positive effect on food security--through both higher adoption rates, and better onfarm biodiversity. Scientists and farmers can work together to guard against the everpresent threat of crop failure...and famine.
Contact: Mike Robbins, Communication, Documentation and Information Services, ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria.
Fax: +963-21 213490, 225105.
Tel.: +963-21 213433, 213477, 235220, 225012, 225112, 225635.
Telex: (492) 331206, 331208, 331263 ICARDA SY.
Cable: ICARDA Aleppo.