Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual

The challenge of feeding the growing population under the current changing climate is most difficult especially for the subsistent farming systems. These systems are characterized by incredible diversity, not of crops alone, but of micro-environments, socio-economic contexts, and cultural preference...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mengistu, Dejene K., Terefe, Hailu, Nigir, Bogale, Tilahun, Mulugeta, Kidane, Yosef G., Fadda, Carlo
Formato: Manual
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179496
_version_ 1855543464539717632
author Mengistu, Dejene K.
Terefe, Hailu
Nigir, Bogale
Tilahun, Mulugeta
Kidane, Yosef G.
Fadda, Carlo
author_browse Fadda, Carlo
Kidane, Yosef G.
Mengistu, Dejene K.
Nigir, Bogale
Terefe, Hailu
Tilahun, Mulugeta
author_facet Mengistu, Dejene K.
Terefe, Hailu
Nigir, Bogale
Tilahun, Mulugeta
Kidane, Yosef G.
Fadda, Carlo
author_sort Mengistu, Dejene K.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The challenge of feeding the growing population under the current changing climate is most difficult especially for the subsistent farming systems. These systems are characterized by incredible diversity, not of crops alone, but of micro-environments, socio-economic contexts, and cultural preferences. For decades, conventional plant breeding, optimized for uniform, high-input environments, has struggled to serve this heterogeneity, leading to low adoption rates of improved varieties and missed opportunities for enhancing food security. This manual presents a paradigm shift: a move from a top-down, transfer-of-technology model to a collaborative, farmer-centric approach to crop improvement. We detail an integrated framework that synergistically combines three powerful participatory methods: Participatory Variety Selection (PVS), Evolutionary Plant Breeding (EPB), and Crowdsourcing (Tricot), supported by the digital platform ClimMob. This framework is not merely about evaluating varieties; it is about building a decentralized, adaptive, inclusive learning system and end users empowerment for agricultural innovation. Empirical evidence from across the globe demonstrates that this approach delivers tangible impacts:  Accelerates genetic gain: Reduces the variety evaluation cycle from a decade or more to just 2-3 years.  Enhances adoption & Equity: Increases adoption rates by 30-50% by ensuring varieties align with farmer preferences, with specific gains among women and marginalized farmers.  Builds climate resilience: Generates location-specific recommendations and develops dynamically evolving populations that buffer against climate shocks.  Strengthens seed systems: Creates robust feedback loops between formal research and informal seed networks, enhancing both the supply of and demand for adapted varieties. This manual is a practical guide. It provides step-by-step protocols, ethical frameworks, advanced statistical foundations, in-depth case studies, and ready-to-use templates. It is designed for practitioners seeking to make crop improvement more relevant, rapid, and resilient.
format Manual
id CGSpace179496
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1794962026-01-09T02:16:53Z Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual Mengistu, Dejene K. Terefe, Hailu Nigir, Bogale Tilahun, Mulugeta Kidane, Yosef G. Fadda, Carlo crop improvement participatory approaches evolutionary biology The challenge of feeding the growing population under the current changing climate is most difficult especially for the subsistent farming systems. These systems are characterized by incredible diversity, not of crops alone, but of micro-environments, socio-economic contexts, and cultural preferences. For decades, conventional plant breeding, optimized for uniform, high-input environments, has struggled to serve this heterogeneity, leading to low adoption rates of improved varieties and missed opportunities for enhancing food security. This manual presents a paradigm shift: a move from a top-down, transfer-of-technology model to a collaborative, farmer-centric approach to crop improvement. We detail an integrated framework that synergistically combines three powerful participatory methods: Participatory Variety Selection (PVS), Evolutionary Plant Breeding (EPB), and Crowdsourcing (Tricot), supported by the digital platform ClimMob. This framework is not merely about evaluating varieties; it is about building a decentralized, adaptive, inclusive learning system and end users empowerment for agricultural innovation. Empirical evidence from across the globe demonstrates that this approach delivers tangible impacts:  Accelerates genetic gain: Reduces the variety evaluation cycle from a decade or more to just 2-3 years.  Enhances adoption & Equity: Increases adoption rates by 30-50% by ensuring varieties align with farmer preferences, with specific gains among women and marginalized farmers.  Builds climate resilience: Generates location-specific recommendations and develops dynamically evolving populations that buffer against climate shocks.  Strengthens seed systems: Creates robust feedback loops between formal research and informal seed networks, enhancing both the supply of and demand for adapted varieties. This manual is a practical guide. It provides step-by-step protocols, ethical frameworks, advanced statistical foundations, in-depth case studies, and ready-to-use templates. It is designed for practitioners seeking to make crop improvement more relevant, rapid, and resilient. 2025-12-16 2026-01-08T07:52:23Z 2026-01-08T07:52:23Z Manual https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179496 en Open Access application/pdf Mengistu, D.K.; Terefe, H.; Nigir, B.; Tilahun, M.; Kidane, Y.G.; Fadda, C. (2025) Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual. 53 p.
spellingShingle crop improvement
participatory approaches
evolutionary biology
Mengistu, Dejene K.
Terefe, Hailu
Nigir, Bogale
Tilahun, Mulugeta
Kidane, Yosef G.
Fadda, Carlo
Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title_full Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title_fullStr Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title_full_unstemmed Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title_short Participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience: Training manual
title_sort participatory crop improvement for farm productivity and climate resilience training manual
topic crop improvement
participatory approaches
evolutionary biology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179496
work_keys_str_mv AT mengistudejenek participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual
AT terefehailu participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual
AT nigirbogale participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual
AT tilahunmulugeta participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual
AT kidaneyosefg participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual
AT faddacarlo participatorycropimprovementforfarmproductivityandclimateresiliencetrainingmanual