Mali
February 2010

Source: AVRDC Newsletter 12 February 2010

A good tomato: For some farmers, the size of the fruit is the most important trait; for others, it could be the number of leaves per tomato plant. Involving farmers in the selection of crop characters helps breeders develop the tomato lines farmers want—and helps farmers produce the varieties the market demands.

AVRDC Mali, in collaboration with Faso Kaba, a private Malian enterprise that produces and distributes certified seed, organized a participatory variety selection of tomato on 15 January 2010. The event highlighted local varieties developed from introduced lines and advanced breeding lines from AVRDC headquarters in Taiwan in a replicated trial on Faso Kaba’s farm under the management of a local farmer. Sixteen farmers from the village of Dara, about 50 km away from the capital, Bamako, were chosen by village leaders to participate based on their involvement in the tomato value chain.

Participatory variety selection aims to increase rates of variety adoption by introducing farmers to new lines as they become available. Variety selection exercises aid breeders in identifying the plant and fruit characters of tomato farmers value most, and to select preferred lines for further development according to those characters.

Early in the morning, participants gathered in the target field at the Faso Kaba farm. A plenary discussion session was held to identify the plant and fruit characters farmers look for when deciding to adopt a tomato variety. Participants then toured the field plot by plot to examine the crop characters firsthand. After the farmers had a closer look at the tomato plants, they scored each plot using a rating scale from 0 (rejected) to 3 (highly preferred).

The farmers identified the number of fruit per plant, the number of healthy leaves per plant, the desired fruit size, fruit firmness, and general appearance of the fruit (uniform color, absence of fruit defects, and diseases) as the most important characters that make a good tomato variety. Farmers emphasized the availability of enough leaf coverage at all times to prevent exposure to direct  sunlight and ensure fruit quality, suggesting a preference for indeterminate type tomatoes. Lines CLN3022F2-37- 25-0-0, DR3-B, and CLN3022F2- 37-13-0-0 ranked first, second, and third, respectively, with 82%, 61% and 55% of the maximum possible score.

Following the evaluation, four farmers volunteered to promote line DR3-B and three farmers agreed to promote the other top two lines. These farmers were convinced that the top three lines, when grown under proper crop management (irrigation, fertilization, weed and pest control) would provide higher yield and fruit quality. They will receive seed of the requested lines for promotion in Dara and neighboring villages through Faso Kaba.

Website: https://avrdc.org/

Published: February 12, 2010