Information Collection (farmer knowledge, empirical), Validation, Integration, and Analysis (within and across thematic groups and sites)

IVb. Information Integration and Analysis within thematic groups (based on global meeting1999)

Key limiting factors for farmer management of local crop diversity

(based on farmer knowledge and empirical measurements)

Burkina Faso

Mexico

Morocco

Nepal

Vietnam

Others (Ethiopia, Hungary, Turkey, Peru)

Socioeconomic

 

hh size

market access, mobility, hh size, wealth status

market access, mobility, hh size, wealth status

gender, land tenure

 

Agro-ecological (natural factors)

precipitation

precipitation,

length of drought,

stoniness of the soil

precipitation, seasonality of precipitation

soil, temperature, irregular rain, hail storms

saline soils, flooding

 

Agro-ecological (farmer managed factors)

 

effect of slash and burn vs. no burn soils

fertiliser treatment,

irrigation

use of external inputs

irrigation system

 

Agromorphological

(key descriptive and selection criteria)

 

landrace description, user preferences, adaptation to soil types

 

total no. of varieties per hh

when was the variety obtained

   

Population structure and breeding systems (key measurement information needed)

   

numbers, distribution and population size, comparing many and few farms with large and small field sizes, fragmentation vs. size of holding

   

Seed supply systems

     

how obtained,

from self, within village, outside village market,

amount used, retained, distributed

 

 

Information Collection (farmer knowledge, empirical), Validation, Integration, and Analysis (within and across thematic groups and sites

IVb. Information Integration and Analysis within thematic groups (based on global meeting1999)

 

Key points of synthesis within thematic areas

 

Area

 

Key Points and Conclusions by partners

Socioeconomic

Two levels of analysis –

  • Decision making: the effect sociocultural and environmental factors have on farmer decisions makes on how they manage genetic diversity,
  • Management of Diversity: incorporating socioeconomic factors such as gender, ethnic, and age groups to disaggregate information on farmer preferences, descriptions and management methods

The determination of the appropriate sample size in relation to the number of variables being considered is a complex matter

Hypothesis testing may require random sampling of households selected within villages. Ethnic and gender differences need to be considered

Agro-ecological

Agrobiodiversity is a natural resource, and thus management of agrobiodiversity fits under natural resource management

Two levels of consideration

  • site consideration
  • plot/farmer field information

Need to collect plot/field information across countries

Need for continuous data to accommodate climate change

Farmer knowledge by PRA methods plus measured data collected by plot/field collect continuous data on climate, historical data also when available

Agromorphological

Greater attention be paid to gender differences and disaggregated information during data collection

Agromorphological preferences are one basis for choosing traits for PPB or for improving seed networks

Need for field trial descriptors to taking into account farmer descriptors for comparison and enhancement PRA + structured interviews for preferences and description criteria.

Limit criteria/variables to key descriptors (see Mexico example of 10 key traits that cover farmer descriptors and most heritable diversity)

Population structure and breeding systems

Needed for the identification of farmer varieties, to have a picture of the diversity under farmer management, to enable to classify farmer varieties for analysis with other factors, to clarify priorities for intervention

Readily permits comparisons between years, between ecosites, between countries and between crop species.

Can be scaled up in the technical sense, e.g., specify landrace names in classes for comparison between years

See table for synthesis of information collection and analysis methodology

Seed supply systems

Interaction between the formal and inform systems

Importance of understanding seed flow mechanisms, for understanding the vulnerability of the system, for making policy recommendations

study of seed supply systems addresses both genetic diversity studies and for policy and development activities. Both PRA and structured surveys needed.

 

Information Collection (farmer knowledge, empirical), Validation, Integration, and Analysis (across thematic groups and sites)

Va. Information Integration and Analysis across thematic groups and sites (based on global meeting1999)

Achievements

 

Outputs 1a-e:

(some examples)

Agro-ecological (natural and farmer managed environmental factors, e.g., pest/diseases, soil fertility)

Agromorphological

(descriptive and selection criteria)

Population structure and breeding systems (size of the population, density, distance between fields)

Seed supply systems (access to seeds)

Socioeconomic

(e.g, access to markets, hh size, labour availability, cultural uses, other socioeconomic factors)

Nepal (Rice, Barley)

Mexico (Maize)

Nepal (Rice, Barley)

Morocco (Alfalfa)

Mexico (Maize)

Mexico (Maize, Chilli)

Nepal (Barley, Taro, Rice, Pigeon Pea)

Morocco (Durum wheat)

Burkina Faso (Sorghum)

Nepal (Rice)

Vietnam (Rice)

Morocco (Alfalfa)

Agro-ecological (natural and farmer managed environmental factors, e.g., pest/diseases, soil fertility)

 

Nepal (Rice – no tillers vs cold)

Mexico (Maize – drought tolerant, strong stalk for rain resistance when doubling)

Nepal (Rice – cold planting density)

Ethiopia (Pest and seed storage)

Burkina Faso (drought)

Agromorphological

(descriptive and selection criteria)

   

Mexico (Maize – flowering time – against introgression)

 

Population structure and breeding systems (size of the population, distance between fields)

       

Seed supply systems (access to seeds)

       

 

 

Information Collection (farmer knowledge, empirical), Validation, Integration, and Analysis (across thematic groups and sites

Vb. Information Integration and Analysis across thematic groups and sites (based on global meeting1999)

Taking farmer varieties as the focal point:

working through the process of integrating data

CROP

Insights

Problems

Good Practices for integration

Sorghum

(Group A)

  • Data needs to be integrated to understand diversity on farm
  • Integration reduces duplication of work
  • Start with validation of named varieties
  • Use of multivariate analysis such as CA, and ANOVA

Preliminary stages with Sorghum information collection

Consultations and teams collection and analysis to avoid duplication of work

 

Faba bean

(Group B)

  • Different scales/levels of data for integration: plot, HH, variety
  • Diagram with different scales/units/data sources with the farmer variety as the meeting point
  • Need plot level data

varied scales and units, difficult to work across themes, standardisation of data, possessiveness of data

team approach, integration, feedback from farmers

plot level data for all components

 

Maize

(Group C)

  • used adding value example to work through data integration to data use
  • integrated issues together with information collected

lack of economic data collection

need gender disaggregation

working in multi-disciplinary teams

farmer feedback

detection of good yields, additional characterisation

 

Taro

(Group D)

  • diagram (tree analysis of crop production/use and thematic areas
  • suggested data be collected at the farmer variety level by all thematic groups

spatial limit of activities

establishing a close relationship between farmers and scientists

Rice

(Group E)

  • Integration of population structure information with data done on farmer variety basis
  • Integration of population structure and seed supply information requires data on sources and sizes (amounts) of seeds being exchanges. and farmer selection practices
  • Population structure can be integrated to agro-ecological variables, such as: available moisture, soil fertility, incidence of pest or diseases

too many variables, need to limit to key ones

basing integration on farmers classification system

limit variables measured

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