The Consultative Workshop on Participatory Plant Breeding (CONPAB), a Specific Support Action funded by the European Commission (Contract n° INCO-CT-2003-502444), was held at ICARDA, in Aleppo (Syria) with the participation of 15 scientists from six countries (three from Egypt, Jordan and Syria, and two from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). The scientists represented crops such as wheat, barley, lentil, faba bean and maize, and disciplines ranging from plant breeding, social science, genetic resources, and biotechnology. The objectives of the workshop were (1) to create a group of scientists in a number of Mediterranean countries committed to participatory plant breeding, (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 program started with a self-introduction of the participants and by a statement of their expectations. This was followed by lectures, field visits, and meetings with farmers. The participants interacted with scientists from various Institutions in Syria, namely the General Commission for Scientific and Agricultural Research (CCSAR), ACSAD, the Extension Directorate, the General organization for Seed Multiplication (GOSM), and some of the members of the variety release Committee. In addition to lectures offered by ICARDA scientists, a lecture on "Actors and users involvement in plant breeding programs" was given by Dr. J. Lancon (CIRAD, France) who also facilitated the final week of the workshop.

Most of the participants were interested in introducing elements of farmers' participation in their breeding program developing a range of proposals that can be classified in three groups: (1) gradual transformation of the current breeding program into a participatory program to be completed during the next four-five years; (2) integration of participatory farmers evaluation in the later stages of the current breeding program; and (3) development of a participatory program parallel to the existing breeding program.

The participants suggested steps to introduce participatory plant breeding in formal University courses, and recommended (1) to have follow up mini workshops of two-three days in each of the six countries to involve a larger number of scientists potentially interested in participatory plant breeding and to eventually facilitate Institutionalizing PPB, and (2) a regional project on participatory plant breeding which will cover different crops and different methodologies.