The Strategy The development of a PPB Strategy took two full days (May 8 and 9). The task was introduced to the participants as one of the main expected outputs of the Consultative Workshop. It was suggested to formulate an independent strategy for each crop and each country following the structure below: 1- Introduction (the crop, importance, area, uses) 2- Current breeding program: Methodology (use scheme), achievements (variety release, adoption) 3- Seed system 4- Proposed way of a) integrating PPB into the existing program, b) replacing gradually the current program with a PPB program, c) others, d) alternatively, reasons why PPB is not considered necessary This was followed by one full day (May 10) of presentations and discussions, country by country, and within each country, crop by crop. These were, with the exception of food legumes in Tunisia, Power Point presentations, which are available as annexes. In light of the discussions and the comments received, the presentations were modified (May 11) and eventually presented in an almost (see recommendations) final form on May 12. The Strategy documents covered the following crops: Barley Jordan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Syria Wheat Jordan, Egypt Maize Egypt Faba Bean Egypt Lentil Morocco There was a rather general consensus that PPB is an attractive approach which deserves to be tried particularly for the more difficult environments. The proposed strategies felt into three major categories: 1- The PPB program seen as an additional and separate program from the conventional breeding program for specific areas 2- The PPB program integrated into the conventional breeding program 3- The conventional program transformed into a fully participatory program Examples of the first category are: 1- Wheat in Egypt, for which PPB is seen as an alternative to conventional breeding to better serve the North West Coast of the country 2- Faba Bean in Egypt where in the new land there are opportunities to expand the cultivation of the crop which have not been met by conventional breeding 3- Maize in Egypt where PPB is seen as an alternative to conventional breeding for the newly reclaimed land 4- Barley in Syria, where the National Program is still reluctant to accept participatory plant breeding; they consider the conventional breeding program fully successful and the low adoption of the barley varieties released so far is attributed to the high price of certified seed. Examples of integration of a participatory component in a conventional breeding program are: 1- Barley in Tunisia and Algeria, and barley and lentil in Morocco. In these countries barley is a typical crop of marginal environments, and there has been so far very limited adoption of the varieties developed with conventional plant breeding. Eventually Jordan is the only example of a situation in which as a follow up of the workshop the national breeding program will start a process of transformation of the centralized non participatory program into a participatory program. The first step of the process will be implemented in the 2005/2006 cropping season for barley and in the 2006/2007 cropping season for wheat. The process will be completed in four cropping seasons. Methodologies The methodologies proposed by the participants to implement the participatory programs are largely based on the pedigree method with sets of trials planted in farmers' fields and the selection done by the farmers. In the case of the maize PPB program proposed for Egypt the methodology is base on the concept of the mother and baby trials. In the case of the programs proposed in Algeria, the methodology includes the incorporation of the haploid breeding. Germplasm Most of the proposed strategies include the use of local germplasm. The barley breeding program in Morocco is actually divided in two components, and the component which addresses the marginal areas is almost entirely based on landraces. Similarly the strategy proposed for barley in Tunisia and Algeria and for lentil in Morocco includes the collection, the evaluation as well as crosses with local landraces. In the case of the barley and the wheat breeding in Jordan, the strategy includes the flow of local germplasm (landraces and wild relatives, from the local gene bank into the breeding program after one cycle of seed multiplication on station. Limiting factors The strategies identified the following factors limiting the applicability of PPB 1- Partners' commitment: the application of PPB requires a strong collaboration between the breeder, the extension services and the farmers. Therefore, the government needs to establish some formal status, which would enhance this collaboration; 2- Farmers educational level: farmers' low level of education may make it difficult to appropriately implement PPB; 3- Variability in farmers' typology; 4- Variety homogeneity aspect: some flexibility in the regulation has to be made to make the PPB varieties accepted for release, at least for specific environment. For some crops, such as durum wheat, seed homogeneity may constitute a quality constraint for its transformation. Therefore, it is important to think of developing some artisan units for transformation as territory product; 5- Variety sustainability: since the varieties released through PPB may be maintained by farmers themselves, some technical supervision is needed to ensure their sustainability, particularly, during difficult years; 6- One of the most important limited factors is the financial support because in developing countries there is no additional fund to carry out participation plant breeding; 7- Breeders' background with limited information about PPB and its importance to release new varieties adapted to a wide or specific sites; 8- Qualification of the Extension staff 9- With specific reference to Syria, it was felt that PPB is not sufficiently clear for a number of scientists.