Farmer participation in common bean genotype evaluation: The case of eastern Ethiopia

Advanced genotypes of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were tested on-station and on-farm to evaluate their performance and acceptability under farmers' circumstances. Farmers were given seed of the genotypes to plant a minimum area of 100 m(2) to be grown as a sole crop or intercropped with sorghum according to their preference. Yield, seed colour, taste, maturity time, disease reaction, growth habit and many other bean characteristics were assessed by farmers. The promising genotypes were higher yielding than the farmers' genotypes in most testing sites. Pairwise ranking of the genotypes showed that in export-oriented western Hararghe, white pea bean (navy bean) type Awash-1 and food bean G-2816 were preferred. In eastern Hararghe GLP x 92 and G-2816 were highly preferred but white pea beans were not preferred. Genotypes in advanced observation nurseries were also evaluated by the farmers and some of the genotypes have been promoted for further testing in yield trials. Selection criteria have been proposed by the farmers in each region. Future breeding and selection of genotypes will incorporate the proposed selection criteria and priorities of the two regions.