Revisiting strategies to incorporate gender-responsiveness into maize breeding in southern Africa
Revisiting strategies to incorporate gender-responsiveness into maize breeding in southern Africa
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DOI：
10.1177/00307270211045410
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发表时间：
2021-10-25
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Haefele, Stephan M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cairns, Jill E.;Baudron, Frederic;Haefele, Stephan M.
在撒哈拉以南非洲，人们越来越重视在作物育种中确定妇女的特性偏好，以便能够进行促进性别平等的产品开发。在玉米的情况下，育种计划准备纳入特定的性状，以增加性别反应，但缺乏指导这些特定性状可能是什么。我们提出了一种诱导的方法来确定一个途径，增加玉米育种的性别反应。对306名农民进行了调查，以确定与关键农艺措施一起使用的玉米品种的性别差异。品种是一个显着的预测的情节经理和户主的性别在以前的调查中进行的研究人员领导的农场试验。农场试验是使用预定义的农艺管理实践进行的，在收获时确定的偏好可能以产量为中心。这项研究突出表明，女性地块管理者和女性户主使用的几种农艺做法存在重大差异。虽然需要进一步的研究来了解与品种选择相关的偏好，但我们的研究结果表明，目前由研究人员领导的农场试验可能无法确定驱动品种选择的性别特异性性状偏好。此外，针对具体特性的方法并不是南部非洲玉米育种中提高性别敏感度的唯一途径。在玉米育种中增加性别意向的范围可以扩大，以纳入与女性地块管理者和家庭在育种后期阶段使用的农艺管理做法更相关的选择环境。这种方法可以为增加南部非洲的性别意识玉米育种提供一个直接的切入点。
In sub-Saharan Africa there is increasing focus on identifying women's trait preferences within crop breeding to enable gender-responsive product development. In the case of maize, breeding programs are ready to incorporate specific traits to increase gender-responsiveness but lack guidance on what these specific traits might be. We propose an inductive approach to determine a pathway towards increasing gender-responsiveness within maize breeding. A survey of 306 farmers was conducted to determine gender differences in maize varieties used together with key agronomic practices. Variety was a significant predictor of the gender of the plot manager and of the household head in contrast to previous surveys conducted in researcher-led on-farm trials. On-farm trials are conducted using pre-defined agronomic management practices and preferences identified at harvest are likely to centre around yield. This study highlighted significant differences in several agronomic practices used by female plot managers and female household heads. Although further studies are required to understand preferences associated with varietal choice, our results suggest that current researcher-led on-farm trials may not identify gender-specific trait preferences driving varietal choice. Furthermore, a trait-specific approach is not the only avenue towards increasing gender-responsiveness in maize breeding in southern Africa. The scope for increasing gender-intentionality in maize breeding could be expanded to incorporate selection environments more relevant to agronomic management practices used by female plot managers and households at advanced stages of the breeding pipeline. This approach could provide an immediate entry point to increase gender-intentional maize breeding in southern Africa.