Facilitators’ Field Guide for Farmer Field Schools on Participatory Plant Breeding. Module: Participatory Variety Enhancement

Participatory Variety Enhancement (PVE) works with appreciated local varieties of cross- and self-pollinating crops. The objective is to either i) restore characteristics, or ‘traits’, that have deteriorated over time, ii) improve preferred traits, or iii) adapt the varieties to changing growing conditions. What makes PVE attractive is that it requires no materials from outside. Farmers work with their own varieties, including ‘official’ varieties that have been in their community for a long time and which may have deteriorated. This illustrated field guide is developed jointly with SD=HS’ consortium partners. It is based on Farmer Field School training experiences in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Peru, Guatemala, Lao P.D.R. and Nepal.