Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America

Participatory approaches for crop variety testing can help breeding teams to incorporate traditional knowledge and consider site-specific sociocultural complexities. However, traditional participatory approaches have drawbacks and are seldom streamlined or scaled. Decentralized on-farm testing suppo...

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Main Authors: Mercado, Leida, Robalino, Juan
Format: Artículo
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/12787
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author Mercado, Leida
Robalino, Juan
author_browse Mercado, Leida
Robalino, Juan
author_facet Mercado, Leida
Robalino, Juan
author_sort Mercado, Leida
collection Repositorio CATIE
description Participatory approaches for crop variety testing can help breeding teams to incorporate traditional knowledge and consider site-specific sociocultural complexities. However, traditional participatory approaches have drawbacks and are seldom streamlined or scaled. Decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science addresses some of these challenges. In this study, we compare a citizen science on-farm testing approach — triadic comparisons of technology options (tricot-PVS) — with the benchmark state-of-the-art group-based participatory variety testing approach (group-PVS) over a set of socioeconomic outcomes. We focus on on-farm testing of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the Trifinio area of Central America. We measure the impact of these two approaches on bean growers in terms of on-farm diversification and food security. We use data from 1978 smallholder farmers from 140 villages, which were randomly assigned to tricot-PVS, group-PVS or control. Utilizing a difference-in-difference model with inverse probability weighting and an instrumental variable approach, we observe that farmers involved in group-PVS, and tricot-PVS had comparable levels of on-farm varietal diversification with respect to control farmers. Nonetheless, group-PVS appears to be significantly more effective in boosting household food security, which can be attributed to improved agronomic management of the crops. This study contributes to the next generation of innovations in exploring trait preferences to produce more inclusive, demand-driven varietal design that democratize participatory varietal selection programs.
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language Inglés
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spelling RepoCATIE127872025-05-14T22:53:12Z Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America Mercado, Leida Robalino, Juan citizen science food security on-farm varietal diversification participatory variety selection tricot approach Sede Central ODS 2 - Hambre cero ODS 13 - Acción por el clima Participatory approaches for crop variety testing can help breeding teams to incorporate traditional knowledge and consider site-specific sociocultural complexities. However, traditional participatory approaches have drawbacks and are seldom streamlined or scaled. Decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science addresses some of these challenges. In this study, we compare a citizen science on-farm testing approach — triadic comparisons of technology options (tricot-PVS) — with the benchmark state-of-the-art group-based participatory variety testing approach (group-PVS) over a set of socioeconomic outcomes. We focus on on-farm testing of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in the Trifinio area of Central America. We measure the impact of these two approaches on bean growers in terms of on-farm diversification and food security. We use data from 1978 smallholder farmers from 140 villages, which were randomly assigned to tricot-PVS, group-PVS or control. Utilizing a difference-in-difference model with inverse probability weighting and an instrumental variable approach, we observe that farmers involved in group-PVS, and tricot-PVS had comparable levels of on-farm varietal diversification with respect to control farmers. Nonetheless, group-PVS appears to be significantly more effective in boosting household food security, which can be attributed to improved agronomic management of the crops. This study contributes to the next generation of innovations in exploring trait preferences to produce more inclusive, demand-driven varietal design that democratize participatory varietal selection programs. 2025-05-12T20:47:06Z 2025-05-12T20:47:06Z 2024-02-08 Artículo https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/12787 openAccess en Agricultural Economics https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12819 26 páginas application/pdf Wiley
spellingShingle citizen science
food security
on-farm varietal diversification
participatory variety selection
tricot approach
Sede Central
ODS 2 - Hambre cero
ODS 13 - Acción por el clima
Mercado, Leida
Robalino, Juan
Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title_full Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title_fullStr Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title_full_unstemmed Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title_short Group-based and citizen science on-farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in Central America
title_sort group based and citizen science on farm variety selection approaches for bean growers in central america
topic citizen science
food security
on-farm varietal diversification
participatory variety selection
tricot approach
Sede Central
ODS 2 - Hambre cero
ODS 13 - Acción por el clima
url https://repositorio.catie.ac.cr/handle/11554/12787
work_keys_str_mv AT mercadoleida groupbasedandcitizenscienceonfarmvarietyselectionapproachesforbeangrowersincentralamerica
AT robalinojuan groupbasedandcitizenscienceonfarmvarietyselectionapproachesforbeangrowersincentralamerica