1. Farmer Involvement in Sorghum Variety Selection Process at Matopos Research Station in Zimbabwe Cousin Musvosvi University of Zimbabwe

2. Where I work Institution: University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Department of Crop Science Focus: Teaching, learning, research and outreach activities in crop sciences. Position: Lecturer in Plant Breeding Responsibility: Teaching and research in plant breeding; representing UZ in national committees, e.g., NPGRCom, and VRC. My research interests: Plant Breeding Systems, Seed Systems and Genetic Resources, Molecular Plant Breeding.

3. Department of Crop Science, UZ

4. Introduction Sorghum Small scale farmers Semi-arid Drought local varieties and improved varieties Low yields. Food insecurity.

5. Objectives Evaluate genotypes for agronomic and other performances using researcher approach and farmers’ approach and to compare the two approaches Establish farmer preferences in sorghum variety selection.

6. Key activities Researcher- farmer meetings Establishment of a sorghum variety evaluation trial at Matopos Research Station Farm Plant material used in the study comprised four improved varieties, three farmer/local varieties (collected from farmers in the surrounding area) and eight experimental lines, supplied by the Department of Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS).

7. Key activities continued Researcher evaluation Observations and measurements on agronomic characteristics.

8. Farmers’ evaluation Each farmer stated own sorghum characteristics preferred in sorghum selection before evaluating varieties for each characteristic using a 1 (poor) to 5 (very good) scale. Ranking of varieties

9. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 DwarfnessE/maturityBig headWhite grain colourHigh yieldBird damage tolerance Desired characteristic % Preference

10. Synthesis Problem identification. What characteristics to focus on in developing sorghum varieties for production in this particular agro-environment.

11. Benefit to the Community Knowledge of improved sorghum varieties. Empowerment of communities – they gain experience and confidence in research.

12. Professionalism My perception of farmers has changed – I now view farmers as capable researchers In future projects with farmers I intend to engage them both in the development and evaluation of technologies. Besides inviting farmers in selection of varieties at researcher managed trials, I will do mother- baby- trials.

13. General conclusions 1. Researcher’s approach is based on observation and measurement of agronomic performances. 2. Farmers’ consider suitability for cultivation in their environment and are also driven by the variety’s ability to address farmer problems. 3. Macia (improved variety) most preferred followed by Tsveta (local variety).

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