Putting farmers first in chickpea selection in Bangladesh. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R8269: Improvement of rainfed cropping systems in the High Barind Tract of Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, new crops are already tested on farms as well as on research stations. Even so, farmers often don't get what they want or need. Now, farmers themselves decide what works best for them on their farms under normal farming conditions. Involving farmers in selecting and testing improved varieties, known as 'participatory varietal selection', has proven successful with chickpea in Bangladesh's High Barind Tract. Here chickpea is becoming popular but yields are often less than a quarter of what they could be. Farmers who tested and adopted new varieties already harvest more grain. Plus, they can get an extra crop from land that previously just lay fallow after the annual rice crop. Involving farmers in selecting varieties has great potential, so efforts need to be focused on making this approach more widely accepted in Bangladesh.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact, Annex. Attached PDF (12 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
PSP11, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 16.