Methodology of Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) in Cuba

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the implementation of Participatory Plant Breeding in Cuba, a methodology based on the experience gained by a group of researchers, farmers and technicians. The proposal presents in materials and methods the four fundamental phases of this process: 1) Diagnosis, 2) Collection of plant genetic resources, 3) Establishments of demonstration plots and development of diversity fairs and 4) Peasant experimentation; The structure provides the necessary flexibility that will allow a proper application of the method and follows a logical order of the activities to be executed in a way that facilitates its execution in the different contexts in which it is of interest to apply it. It was obtained as a result that in addition to the four basic stages of Participative Plant breeding, other tools were used that allowed a successful process, they were: action learning according to interests, Farmers’ schools, Innovation festivals, Exchange visits and coexistence, Training of students’ capacities in the local innovation scenarios and creation of local seed banks.