This paper examines the impacts of establishing ‘Germplasm User Groups’ (GUGs) across five African countries to connect farmers with genebanks as rapid responders to local agricultural challenges.
GUGs conducted farmer participatory research to evaluate genebank materials and establish pathways for the exchange of knowledge and crop diversity in farming communities.
Drawing on surveys and interviews from over 1,600 smallholders, it found GUGs increase farmer understanding of genebanks, improve access to crop diversity and increase farmer exchanges with national genebanks. As well as material exchange, smallholders welcome the learning opportunities from GUGs to address local farming challenges.
Growing a wide selection of crops allows farmers to hedge their bets for a harvest in uncertain conditions, consume nutritious diets, support local livelihoods and foster local biodiversity.
Improved varieties for farmers (...) require a long period of time for varietal development and tend to target a limited selection of major or cash crops, relying on a formalised business model of repeat purchase from agro-dealers for the ongoing development and production of these varieties. This system functions for a handful of African crops but is not neither financially viable, nor competitive for the much larger range of crops smallholders rely upon.
Since the privatised model of the formal seed system has struggled to deliver the broad crop diversity farmers need, and informal systems are unlikely to quickly supply crop diversity that is not locally available, the alternative might be more cooperative or public funded models of introducing crop diversity in local systems.
Connecting national genebanks and farmers for direct germ plasm exchange could help farmers access locally adapted varieties that can offer resilience to pests and climate stresses.
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