Strategies and selection criteria for participatory cotton breeding in Uganda : a diagnostic study

Summary

The lack of suitable varieties and the shortage of organically multiplied seed constrain the development of the organic cotton production. To address the availability of suitable varieties in the long term, the international organic cotton community initiated organic cotton breeding in India and Burkina Faso, and the Louis Bolk Institute is developing a project in Uganda, Africa’s largest organic cotton producer. A participatory approach in which organic farmers select in their fields was chosen, to gain insights into agronomical traits, and make the release of a cotton variety for organic agriculture economical. To review the aims and underlying assumptions of this project, a diagnostic study was conducted. The objectives were to analyse the Ugandan cotton sector and its stakeholders, to investigate the cotton production system and main constraints, to identify the plant traits that organic and conventional small-scale producers prefer, and to explore the possibilities to breed for resistance to the lygus bug (Lygus vosseleri R., Miridae), suspected to be the major pest in organic cotton production.