Improving farmers’ crop populations may help meet farmers’ needs and ensure the continued use and in situ conservation of local crop varieties. Collaborative or participatory plant breeding (CPB or PPB) is an approach with the potential to increase the productivity and relevance of crop improvement efforts, especially for low-resource farming households in difficult environments. Two elements are central in CPB. First, the adaptation of crop populations to local biophysical and sociocultural environments and second, interaction between farmers and professional plant breeders. Creating an effective basis for collaboration that integrates the insights and skills of farmers and breeders and ensures mutual respect is a major challenge for CPB.
The authors started to explore farmers’ selection practices with the idea that selection is about changing crop populations. When they asked households what they were looking for when they made selections, they were invariably told “los mejores” - the best. When the authors asked questions about how they wanted to change their populations, the answers received were often confusing. Looking at farmers’ perspectives-exploring farmers’ practices, the theory behind them, and their implications for maize populations was more productive. It revealed mistaken assumptions and allowed farmers to explain their own understandings, theories, practices and objectives in maize seed selection.
