Participatory Varietal Selection: A Case Study on Small Millets (Little millet) in Tribal Dominated Areas of Odisha

Abstract

Modern Plant breeding has catered more to the needs of rich farmers who could afford high management under irrigated situations. In contrast, subsistence farmers growing millets in unfavorable environments use low levels of inputs and have not been benefited by high yielding variety (HYV) technology. In present study, the usefulness of participatory approach for identifying cultivars for harsh environments and acceptable to resource poor farmers has been demonstrated .In Little millet one released variety OLM -208 was tested along with nine local landraces in farmers field. Trials were conducted during kharif-2022 at Golereguda village of Kundura block, koraput district and Agroecology center, chitrakonda block of Malkangiri district of odisha. In Pre – and Post-harvest Focus group discussion (FGDs) revealed that the  variety “Bada suan “in Little millet at Golereguda village of Kundura block ,koraput district meet the criteria of farmers .Al so like this the variety “Bada suan –Ranga “ in Little millet at Agroecology center ,chitrakonda block of Malkangiri district meet the criteria of farmers requirement . Farmers also opined that these local landraces has good yield potential, lodging and disease, pest resistance and they would adopt them in future agro ecosystem.