Breed your own! Participatory hybrid breeding (#journal)

The potential of participatory hybrid breeding

This article explores the potential of involving smallholder farmers in hybrid development for their low-external input farming systems. The authors developed a conceptual model of the procedures, based on five simple assumptions, for a participatory maize breeding programme in southwest China, from 2000 to 2012. It is shown that farmers’ early involvement in hybrid development during the pre-breeding stage, including broadening the base populations with farmer-maintained local landraces, supported co-evolution of the genetic resources in farmers’ fields.