Phase 1

Objectives

Two systems of agricultural research and development exist: the formal or institutional system, and the informal or farmers’ community system. These systems operate side by side and may in most cases augment each other.

The farmer community system maintains a large source of still available genetic diversity of direct importance to farmers themselves as well as to the institutional system. The institutional system encompasses a majority of farmers in developing countries. The formal system offers specialised expertise and enhanced access to genetic resources and breeding materials.

CBDC aims to link these two distinct systems in its own projects involving research, development and conservation in agriculture.

In 1994 the Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation (CBDC) programme started with the following objectives:

to study and provide direct support for strengthening community innovation systems relevant to the conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources;
to facilitate support from the institutional system for these community innovation systems.

Concerns about the loss of diversity

The CBDC finds its origin in increasing concerns about the loss of plant genetic resources. This was expressed by the CBDC founding members during a number of meetings that dealt with the importance of in situ conservation, including on-farm conservation of farmers’ varieties and their wild relatives. These discussions took place in the context of the Keystone Dialogue Series on Plant Genetic Resources, and conferences related to the Convention of Biological Diversity, and the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. At the heart of the Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation programme lie the following observations:

in situ conservation should be regarded as complementary to ex situ conservation;

in situ conservation forms an essential part of informal production systems in large parts of developing countries in which farmers and their communities practice on-farm crop improvement and seed production;
these informal systems maintain a wealth of genetic resources on which farmers themselves as well as formal breeders rely;
the informal systems are endangered by growing population pressure, opening of markets and government support in many countries for replacement of farmers’ varieties by commercial, improved varieties;
a large number of farmers will continue to be dependent on on-farm crop improvement and seed production for their livelihood stressing the need to support these systems;
at the same time, little is known about strategies employed by farmers and their communities to utilise and conserve plant genetic resources; there is a need to explore the relation of these strategies to household food security and improvement, the dynamics of genetic diversity, and options to support community innovation systems in their role to improve livelihood and to conserve diversity.

The above observations resulted in the formulation of the CBDC programme with the ambition to actively support and strengthen community innovation systems.

Strengthening the community innovation systems

The long-term objectives of the CBDC programme are:

to study and provide direct support for the strengthening of community innovation systems relevant to the conservation and utilisation of plant genetic resources;
to facilitate support from the institutional system aimed at the community innovation systems.

Intermediate objectives of the programme are:

to develop appropriate methodologies to study and validate on-farm development and conservation strategies;
to promote institution building and human resources development relevant to development and conservation of PGR;
to promote public awareness and recognition of on-farm development and conservation strategies;
to recognize gender issues relevant to the above objectives;
to address ethical and policy implications relevant to the above objectives;
to develop mechanisms recognizing and implementing Farmers’ rights;
to identify areas of potential collaboration with the institutional sector;

Hypothesis

The CBDC programme aims to assess the following hypotheses:

local crop development implies the in-situ survival of genetic variation and may therefore complement ex-situ conservation approaches; local crop development and conservation also generates and conserves local knowledge of genetic resources;
local crop development and conservation maintains farmers’ varieties and secures local seed supply;
local crop development and conservation exposes the crops to natural and artificial selection, which ensures a reasonable adaptation to growing conditions and local needs;
local crop innovators can provide high quality seeds but may not meet all quality criteria; external support can strengthen these activities;
in many areas local crop development is limited by lack of acces to additional genetic diversity;
supply of appropriate external genetic material may enhance local crop development;
farmers’ varieties may better satisfy farmers’ requirements than modern varieties, depending on the farming conditions;
in many instances local crop development is hampered by methodological constraints;
scientific expertise and methods may contribute to an improvement of local crop development.