Avances del mejoramiento genético participativo del frijol en Cuba

Progress in participatory plant breeding of common beans in Cuba. Participatory Plant Breeding activities were performed with the support of farmers from both San Antonio de los Banos Municipality in Habana province and La Palma community in Pinar del Rio province between 2001 and 2004. In the diagnosis phase, it was observed that more than 80 % of farmers did not use the seeds provided by the official system in the target areas of the project. Therefore, the varieties obtained by conventional breeding programs did not reach most farmers. An alternative mechanism was developed to introduce genetic diversity to several localities, with the objective of facilitating seed transfer from research institutions to the farmer and viceversa. After conducting diversity fairs, rural experimentation will follow in farms and cooperatives, developing a broad experimental network difficult to achieve by any breeding program that does not consider producer's participation. Rural experimentation, increases in diversity due to the use of greater number of varieties, and larger proportion of areas dedicated to the cultivation of these species resulted in the improvement of the wellbeing of the farmers and their families.