Final Report Summary - CONPAB (Consultative Workshop on Participatory Plant Breeding)
The objective of the Specific Support Action (SSA) was to establish a working group of scientists responsible for plant breeding in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Greece, Italy, France and Spain that will develop plans and strategies on how to develop PPB programs in drought prone areas in a one-month consultative workshop in Syria, which is hosting one of the most advanced participatory plant breeding (PPB) programs. In the workshop, the working group has been exposed to the implementation of PPB on the ground, to its technical aspects, and to the reaction of farmers, scientists, extension organisations, seed companies, and research managers.
The work plan has been fully completed. The first year of the project (1 May 2004 - 30 April 2005) was devoted to the preparation of the workshop, with the establishment of the agenda and with the selection of the participants.
The workshop took place in Aleppo (Syria) at the ICARDA headquarters on 24 April - 13 May 2005, with the participation of 15 scientists from six countries (three from Egypt, Jordan and Syria, and two from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). The scientists represented crops such as wheat, barley, lentil, faba bean and maize, and disciplines ranging from plant breeding, social science, genetic resources, and biotechnology.
The objectives of the workshop were:
(1) to create a group of scientists in a number of Mediterranean countries committed to participatory plant breeding;
(2) to formulate plans and strategies on how to implement participatory plant breeding in crops that have strategic importance for the drought prone areas of the region; and
(3) to widely disseminate methodologies, plans and strategies.
In addition to the programmed dissemination activities and given the availability of funding, three new activities, not programmed initially, have been proposed to and accepted by the European Commission:
1. initiation of a PPB program in Algeria on both durum wheat and barley;
2. one mini workshop for policy makers and university staff in Algeria;
3. institutionalisation of the existing PPB activities in Jordan.
The work plan has been fully completed. The first year of the project (1 May 2004 - 30 April 2005) was devoted to the preparation of the workshop, with the establishment of the agenda and with the selection of the participants.
The workshop took place in Aleppo (Syria) at the ICARDA headquarters on 24 April - 13 May 2005, with the participation of 15 scientists from six countries (three from Egypt, Jordan and Syria, and two from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). The scientists represented crops such as wheat, barley, lentil, faba bean and maize, and disciplines ranging from plant breeding, social science, genetic resources, and biotechnology.
The objectives of the workshop were:
(1) to create a group of scientists in a number of Mediterranean countries committed to participatory plant breeding;
(2) to formulate plans and strategies on how to implement participatory plant breeding in crops that have strategic importance for the drought prone areas of the region; and
(3) to widely disseminate methodologies, plans and strategies.
In addition to the programmed dissemination activities and given the availability of funding, three new activities, not programmed initially, have been proposed to and accepted by the European Commission:
1. initiation of a PPB program in Algeria on both durum wheat and barley;
2. one mini workshop for policy makers and university staff in Algeria;
3. institutionalisation of the existing PPB activities in Jordan.