ABSTRACT
Farmers supply much of the seed traded in the local markets that serve small-scale agriculture in many developing countries. A major challenge for small-scale seed production systems is their limited access to genetic diversity within and across crops that could expand the variety portfolio, enable adaptation to changing climate conditions, and improve nutrition security. Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) on participatory plant breeding (PPB) improve farmers’ capacities for selecting and breeding their own preferred varieties in selected crops. One drawback of the FFS approach has been the intensive capacity support required. This chapter describes two cases where scaling up of FFS activities was achieved with modest means. In Vietnam, farmer seed clubs were developed with relatively little external support. In Zimbabwe, 318 FFSs were managed simultaneously, under four major conditions: (1) the availability of a baseline tool-kit and well-established, season-long, and flexible curricula for trainers as well as farmer-participants, (2) the successful establishment of a core group of master trainers, (3) the involvement of extension service staff in facilitating the FFS, and (4) the availability of new and adapted germplasm from participating breeding institutions.
