Participatory varietal selection: A case study on small millets in Karnataka

Modern plant breeding has catered more to the needs of rich farmers who could afford high management under irrigated situations. In contrast, subsistence farmers growing millets in unfavourable environments use low levels of inputs and have not been benefited by high yielding variety (HYV) technology. In the present study, the usefulness of the participatory approach for identifying cultivars for harsh environments and acceptable to resource poor farmers has been demonstrated. In little millet five varieties, viz., CO 2, PRC 3, OLM 20, Sukshema and TNAU 98 were selected for testing on farmers fields. Trials was conducted at Jekinakatti village of Savanur taluk and Chandapu