Planting Knowledge, Harvesting Agro-Biodiversity: A Case Study of Southern Guinea-Bissau Rice Farming

In marginal and complex agricultural environments, modern varieties of rice have been scantily adopted by resource-poor farmers. This is due, on the one hand, to farmers' nonexistent or reduced access to agro-chemicals, irrigation facilities, and seeds, and on the other hand, to the fact that they did not fulfil the farmers' socioeconomic and cultural priorities and needs. An understanding of farmers' criteria for variety selection is key to promoting effective plant breeding and achieving broader aims of food security and food sovereignty. Based on extensive ethnographic field research, this paper discusses rice biodiversity management strategies and the experimental skills and knowledge of Southern Guinea-Bissau farmers against the backdrop of failures by development interventions to introduce modern rice varieties. I conclude that the present cereal crises and environmental concerns should reshape researchers' exclusive priorities on genetic engineering in order to identify economically valued landraces, and promote their dissemination through participatory seed self-sufficiency approaches.