Co-building of varieties, biodiversity and other things among farmers, scientists and professionals

Background:
The Collaborative Program on Participatory Plant Breeding in Mesoamerica (PPBMA) started in 2000 in Nicaragua and Honduras and later expanded to Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico and Costa Rica. The program is an interdisciplinary efforts to bring together farmers, farmers' organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government institutions and research centers to strengthen the participation of farmers in conservation and utilization of germ plasma, in breeding (selection, validation and seed production) and sustainable management of crops.

The second phase of the PPBMA began in 2005 in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala with funding from the Norwegian Development Fund; Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico with funding from ACSUR and Cuba with funding from the IDRC Canada. The main development goal is to improve quality of life of 60,000 households in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba and Costa Rica.
Immediate goals
1. Increasing knowledge and use of the techniques and methods of participatory plant breeding (PPB) among farmers and institutions.
2. Strengthening the capacity of farmers and institutions for conservation (in situ and ex situ) and sustainable use of biodiversity
3. Institutionalizing PPB process at the national and regional level.

Purpose/objective:
The objective of this evaluation is to assess achieved results and sustainability of activities of the Participatory Plant Breeding in Meso- America (phase 2).

Methodology:
1. Literature review.
2. Interviews of main stakeholders (researchers, farmers, technical workers, Non-governmental organizations, the regional coordination and donors).
3. Focal groups interview with farmers.
4. Field visits to verify the information and to assess how the coordination between the main actors are taking place in field.
5. Assess monitoring systems of local NGOs, farmers and research centers, and see how these systems are linked.

Key findings:
1. High level of Institutional commitment in the program.
2. More than 20 varieties of main food crops in the region, such as, Maize, Bean Sorghum and Rice have been improved by farmers and released in a large scale since 2005 and it is expected that about 40 more will be released by the end of 2009, five times more than planned.
3. More than sixty farmers' varieties are being adopted by neighboring farmers. These are varieties with well-defined local use and which were not accepted by the majority farmers in the whole countries.
4. Community seed banks reduced vulnerability against natural disasters.
5. Farmer groups are actively involved in the production of quality seeds both for use in their own communities (Guatemala, Honduras) or for sales in a wider market (Nicaragua, Costa Rica). Costa Rica is the spearhead in the production of quality seeds.
6. Farmers have registered varieties at the national level in Nicaragua, therefore, breaking the myth that only seed companies can produce good quality seeds. However, registering seeds as the Nicaraguans did, will not be possible for all small-farmers. Alternatively, a different set of standard could be created which are less stringent than the international standard. This is done in Costa Rica with Quality Seed Protocol. The Seed Protocol has empowered farmer organizations and is a significant step towards political changes needed to ensure farmer rights to their contribution to biodiversity.

Recommendations:
The project should further strengthen breeding and genetic improvement through supporting in-situ and on-farm research for conservation purposes and looking into more dynamic ways for on farm conservation.

The community Seed Banks should serve the purpose of conservation, ensuring that the materials are diversified and renewed constantly.

The project should strengthen the involvement of farmers and to improve the flow of information between all levels of participants in PPBMA, from regional to national and from national to community level and vice versa.

Comments from the organisation, if any: DF would work further on scaling-up initiatives for sustainable use of Agricultural Biodiversity in Central America. Special attention will be given to the sustainability of farmer groups, in order to maintain the balance between conservation and management of agricultural biodiversity at the community level. Intergenerational aspects will be solved through strengthening youth and women participation in the program.