Creating common ground in collaborative crop improvement

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...