Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) is increasingly considered as an efficient and effective methodology to develop improved crop germplasm specifically adapted to drought as well as to the complex of stresses characterizing the marginal environments where rural poverty is widespread.

The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ/CIHEAM) has promoted for many years the implementation of selection and genetic improvement programs in the main species of interest for the Mediterranean region through training, thematic research networks and research projects. Very recently, the MABDE research project, funded by the INCO-MED program, coordinated by IAMZ/CIHEAM in which teams from Spain, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Jordan and Turkey participate addresses relevant genetic issues related with barley breeding for drought resistance.

The activities in plant breeding related to barley, durum wheat and food legumes have been developed in close collaboration with the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo (Syria).

ICARDA has pioneered the implementation of PPB programs in a number of Mediterranean (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria) and other developing countries (Eritrea, Yemen), and has developed a methodological package, which would allow a broad implementation of PPB as the way in which plant breeding is conducted for the drought prone regions in the Mediterranean countries.

The Consultative Workshop on Participatory Plant Breeding (CONPAB) is a Specific Support Action funded by the European Commission (Contract n? INCO-CT-2003-502444) with the purpose of developing an agreed strategy on PPB, aiming at its adoption as plant breeding strategy for drought prone areas, and ultimately at the alleviation of drought whose frequency is expected to increase in the future.

The consultative workshop was to complement the activities of other projects such as MABDE, by exploiting both the knowledge and the germplasm that they generate.

The structure of the Workshop was developed during a preparatory meeting held at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza, Spain on 8 October 2004.

The main objectives of the workshop were (1) to create a group of scientists in a number of Mediterranean countries committed to an innovative way of organizing plant breeding programs that is designed specifically to produce diverse germplasm, more adapted to drought, less dependent on external inputs, and responding to the needs of rural communities, (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. The second and third objectives are both of regional and global relevance as they address the global concern on water scarcity.