By Richard Gibson & Isaac Mpembe
Transcript
Richard Gibson: This is a film made about the release of a sweetpotato variety in Uganda that has been called Tomulabula by farmers and NASPOT 11 PPB 1 by scientists.
What is so special about the variety? What is special is that it is the first ever release of a variety that has been bred by participatory plant breeding (PPB).
What do we mean by PPB? It is an approach that brings together farmers and scientists working closely together often in farmers’ fields in order to develop a variety that is particularly suited to farmers. The approach is particularly good for developing countries like Uganda and also for staple food crops such as sweetpotato.
Why am I giving this? I am not a plant breeder; I am a plant virologist. I was based in Uganda for 3 yrs from 1994 and I was working on sweet potato virus disease. This is the most serious disease of sweetpotato in Africa. It has been known since 1920 — 30 and has remained a problem. It is puzzling that it has remained a problem, particularly because most sweetpotato are local landraces. They have not developed strong resistance to it despite large pressures for it.
When I returned to UK, where I work at NRI, I was reading literature about sweetpotato. In one article, it is claimed that sweetpotato seedlings occur widely in farmers’ fields. This struck me as strange because I couldn’t remember ever seeing seedlings in a farmer’s field. I contacted colleagues in Uganda and they confirmed that they rarely saw seedlings. I went on a survey in the Lake Zone of Uganda & Tanzania: I remember chatting to an old lady — most sweetpotato farmers are women — and she was saying ‘Why is this muzungu [name for white man] asking me questions about seedlings; we never see them’. This highlighted that seedlings rarely occur and therefore traditional plant breeding was labouring under a huge disadvantage. But somehow it was also doing a good job despite this, as most sweetpotato varieties were bred by traditional plant breeding and, despite problems with SPVD, they are feeding most of Africa.
This made me think that, if we could address the problem of lack of seedlings, traditional plant breeding could do a really good job. Based on this idea, I approached the Crop Protection Programme of UK DFID and I got funding to work with colleagues at Namulonge Research Institute now known as the National Crops Resources Research Institute. My colleague there, known as Robert Mwanga, is now working at the International Potato Center. Working we him, we approached two farmer groups and provided them with seed.
This started in 2003. Worked with 2 farmers groups: one in Mpigi and the other in Luwero. We provided 6,000 seeds each and these were germinated by the farmers. The seedlings produced cuttings and these were planted by the farmers in their fields and the good ones from this generation and the next and the next etc were selected.
At first, it was very depressing for farmers because we were always throwing away plants. But, by 2004/5, we had selected 12 lines at each group which were good. We encouraged farmers to exchange lines and continued reducing the numbers of plants. Since 2005, the farmers have continued selecting but now the scientists also did national trials. Out of all these, the best one selected was known as NASPOT 11 PPB 1 by scientists and Tomulabula by farmers.
We also did assessments of how good NASPOT 11 is. We found out what farmers wanted: there were >50 attributes which is why scientists find it so hard to breed varieties for them.
[TURN TO DIAGRAMS As you can see, there is a diagram showing the history of the selection of Tomulabula and also a diagram showing, for each variety, how well it performed for each attribute - the length of the red column representing this]
For each variety, we asked farmers how they rated Tomulabula, a local variety called Dimbuka and NASPOT 1 which is the most popular local variety bred by scientists. NASPOT 1 did really well for the main attributes but had lots of variation and for some attributes it did poorly. The local variety Dimbuka generally performed OK for all attributes but it also didn’t do very well for any. What we see with Tomulabula is that there are very few attributes which are negative and a large number in which it did well or very well. So what we had selected by PPB is a good all-rounder. Anyway, let’s hear what the farmers say.
A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS WITH FARMERS
Isaac Mpembe: I am Isaac Mpembe from Namulonge Research Institute and I have come to the farmer’s garden to find out how she has progressed with PPB which we introduced. Now, she is observing the material we introduced. I am going to start by asking how she went through the process.
Response: Her name is Manama Jowa. She is one of the Luwero farmer group. We started off with 4,000 seeds. We germinated these and started selecting the plants. After selecting the best, we would plant them, repeated, repeated, repeated until we got the best varieties. We selected 3 varieties: NK1081L, NK218L & NK259L. Those are the varieties we selected here. There was another group from Mpigi doing PPB. They produced 2 types: NK102M & NK103M. When all the varieties were planted together, they selected NK1081L & NK318L. We then planted them to see how they were performing in our own field. NK1081L was the best. The roots are really nice; good skin colour; resistant to different types of weather & resistant to biotic and abiotic constraints.
Isaac Mpembe: What problems did they encounter?
Response: At the beginning, they thought that researchers were joking & they couldn’t produce anything good: farmers were almost giving up. They gradually appreciated it was good. They eventually chose 1081 & concentrated on that.
Isaac Mpembe: What are the good attributes of 1081?
Response: NK1081, known as Tomulabula, produces big roots deep in the soil, protected from weevils. It is also very easy to get planting material. The roots are highly marketable because of their skin colour. It has very good cooking qualities.
Isaac Mpembe: You have told us that this variety is called Tomulabula. Why have you chosen that name?
Response: They had invited a trader to buy a crop but the trader thought there were few roots because they failed to crack the soil. Later on, they agreed to buy after harvesting. The estimated that there were five bags before harvest but they actually harvested 12 bags from a ¼ acre. So they decided to name it Tomulabula meaning, "Please don’t warn him’ because he is unaware of how good the yield will be".
Richard Gibson: It is the first time that a variety of sweetpotato has been bred by PPB in Uganda, in Africa or in the World. Are you proud? [CLAPPING]
What is the main variety you are all growing?
Answer: Tomulabula
Richard Gibson: Why do you like Tomulabula?
Answer: It si very sweet. It has a big yield.
Richard Gibson: How about selling?
Answer: It sells very well
Richard Gibson: Has it made you richer?
Answer: We sell the vines and the roots to a very good market.
Richard Gibson: Is Tomulabula selling better than other varieties?
Answer: Yes
Richard Gibson: What is the main variety you grow?
Speaker 3: Tomulabula
Richard Gibson: How long have you been growing Tomulabula?
Speaker 3: >40 yrs
Richard Gibson: What makes Tomulabula the variety you grow >40 acres of
Speaker 3: It produces big yield, big roots, is weevil resistant & easy to sell
Richard Gibson: Is it making you richer?
Speaker 3: Even today she is coming from the market.
Richard Gibson: How has it made you richer?
Speaker 3: It has made me healthy; my children are going to school and also getting healthier.
Richard Gibson: Any major improvements to your house?
Speaker 3: She has got money and bought a house in Kampala.
In field of sweetpotato
Richard Gibson: Your field of sweetpotatoes; how many acres is it?
Speaker 3: 1½ acres.
Richard Gibson: Is it all planted to Tomulabula?
Speaker 3: Yes.
Richard Gibson: Why?
Speaker 3: Tomulabula has a big yield & is attractive in the market.
Richard Gibson: Show us what a good yield? [SHE SHOWS]
Speaker 3: Yes; Tomulabula is very attractive in the market
Richard Gibson: Do you get a better price:
Speaker 3: Yes; it is more highly priced
Richard Gibson: Can we see how Tomulabula produces more planting material? Yes, there is a lot.
Back to interviews in 1st farmer’s garden
Isaac Mpembe: She is saying the group is so proud of Tomulabula. They can sell roots & vines.
Now Tomulabula is so widely accepted, they are able to get an easy market. She has been able to sell vines. She has been able to construct a house of her own & to send her children to boarding school.