Chapter 2: Participatory study of pigeonpea farming system, landraces, and the preferred traits
2.4 Discussion and conclusion
The survey and germplasm collection were conducted in typical pigeonpea growing areas ranging from low altitude to high altitude areas. Most farmers were very receptive, interactive and knowledgeable of the pigeonpea crop. The results have brought new perceptions and challenges to pigeonpea breeding in Malawi.
Pigeonpea forms part of the cropping system for small-scale farmers in the southern region of Malawi. The crop is mostly intercropped with such crops as maize, beans, pumpkins, cassava, groundnuts, cowpeas, pearl millet, and sorghum. Sakala (1992) and Gwata et al. (2006) reported similar results. Most farmers intercrop pigeonpea because
of small landholding size (0.4 - 0.8 ha) in relation to the average farming family of 5 people as reported by the National Statistics Office (2005). This is why many farmers put only 0.2 ha of land to pigeonpea production, leading to low total output. There is a need, therefore, to breed for high yielding varieties that can do well in an intercropping system.
Local landraces, which are predominantly late maturing, account for a high proportion of the pigeonpea production in the country. The low adoption of the released wilt-resistant varieties may be attributed to lack of farmer-preferred traits in the improved varieties.
These landraces vary in many features, among which are seed colour, size, plant height, and maturity periods. The genetic variations among local landraces show potential for further selection.
There are varying sources of pigeonpea seed for planting. Use of own seed and sharing among friends and relatives indicated that farmers were particular about certain traits which they wanted to maintain. The fact that most farmers had been growing the same cultivar for more than five years supports the importance of maintaining the desirable traits. The number of farmers who buy seed from the market suggests the potential market for the improved (certified) seed. Currently, the two improved varieties give limited options to the farmers on the desirable traits. Therefore, the release of more improved pigeonpea varieties would give farmers better options.
The majority of the farmers chose seed from the harvested seed lot. The implication is that farmers want to maintain and preserve the desirable traits in their cultivar, such traits including taste, colour, and fast cooking. It can be concluded, therefore, that yield and other attributes are less important (Smith et al., 2001) than the desirable traits, and selection pressure for yield is almost non-existent. This is despite the fact that some farmers could exert selection pressure by choosing plants in the field with good yield attributes (plant vigour, more number of branches, greater number of pods branch-1 and greater number of seeds pod-1). Participatory plant breeding should involve such farmers, who choose good plants in the field, in improving pigeonpea genetically.
Pigeonpea is mostly consumed as cooked dry peas to be used with the main Malawian
pods. Most of the tobacco estates in the southern region of the country use pigeonpea as an integral part of the ration for the workers. Most estates provide 150 g of cooked pigeonpea per person per meal, which is enough to provide 19.5 g of actual protein (Latham, 1979). Pigeonpea genotypes with high protein content would thus benefit estate workers and farmers.
Most of the pigeonpea produced in Malawi is consumed locally. The quantity of pigeonpea that is bought annually is limited by the availability of the export markets and the quantity that farmers offer on the market because most farmers keep the greater part of the pigeonpea harvest for food. The prevailing market forces/trends based on available supply, determine the prices at which buyers purchase pigeonpea from farmers. Both dhal and whole grain are available on the local market for consumers. This ensures their availability for those who can access pigeonpea in shops. The ICRISAT released varieties are preferred for whole grain export markets because of their white colour. Some companies indicated that ICRISAT varieties are more difficult to process into dhal than local pigeonpea because they have a hard seed coat, while the local cultivars peel off easily (Singh and Jambunathan, 1990). ICEAP 0040 was specifically developed for its disease resistance, fast cooking and ease of dehulling (1Dr Said Silim, personal communication, 2008). However, it was not widely adopted by farmers due to lack of seed. The implication of this is that breeders should breed cultivars with a loose seed coat for the desired milling quality.
Farmers perceived pests, small landholding size, lack of suitable varieties, flower abortion, adverse weather, and low soil fertility as minor problems but regarded diseases as major problems. Among the diseases, Fusarium wilt was regarded as a major production constraint in Malawi, reducing pigeonpea yield. Most farmers reported that they grew pigeonpea cultivars that were susceptible to Fusarium wilt.
Fusarium wilt was reported to be the most serious disease of pigeonpea. This confirms earlier reports by Soko (1992), Subrahmanyam et al. (1992), Changaya-Banda (1997), Hillocks et al. (2000) and Gwata et al. (2006). The severity of the disease may be attributed to lack of proper rotation or other control measures due to small land holding
1 Dr Said N. Silim, ICRISAT, Nairobi, Kenya
size. If pigeonpea production is to improve in Malawi, resistant cultivars should be developed to control the wilt disease.
A high proportion of farmers preferred local landraces due to their short cooking time.
The southern region of Malawi is heavily deforested, and pigeonpea stems are the reliable sources of firewood (Edje, 1984; Arya et al., 2002). Therefore, fast cooking cultivars save firewood. Taste (flavour) also ranked highly in the farmers’ preferences.
The released varieties (Sauma and Kachangu) are not popular among farmers for food because they take long to cook and they are not as tasty as the local landraces. For these farmers, seed colour is an indication of flavour/taste and shorter cooking time, while size is an indication of weight for marketing purposes. Tall plants are preferred for compatibility with maize in the cropping system and for firewood, though most of the tall plants are late maturing. Other reasons for preferring local varieties include their high prices, drought tolerance, capacity to improve soil fertility, pest tolerance, early maturation, high expansion rate after cooking, and big stems for firewood.
Almost all the buying companies prefer large seeded pigeonpea for processing into dhal (split cotyledons). This is based on the machine calibration. One company indicated that they prefer buying local landraces because their seed coats (testas) are easier to remove than the released varieties; seed colour also plays a role for whole grain or dhal markets. Seed size may not be an issue for companies that usually export pigeonpea as whole grain. It was clear from the survey that buyers’ requirements were similar to farmers’ preferences in terms of seed size and colour. Therefore, selection for large seed size and proper colour, during breeding, would cater for both farmers and buyers.
Most farmers expect plant breeders to develop varieties that have such attributes as whiteness, roundness and largeness of seeds, their fast cooking rates, adaptability to local climatic conditions, early maturation, good flavour/taste, drought tolerance, double flowering in a season, and the bushiness of plants for firewood. This list of preferences is an indication of the many challenges that exist in pigeonpea production, calling for more concerted interventions from scientists in various disciplines to address the farmers’
expectations. The expectations of the buyers are mainly good quality seed which can easily be processed into dhal and/or exported as whole grain, and high yielding varieties
The PRA showed that Fusarium wilt was the main production constraint and yet farmers used susceptible cultivars due to their desirable traits. Deployment of resistant varieties, an integral part of integrated disease management strategy, could be the viable option for managing the disease. The involvement of farmers and the trade, through PVS, helped to select suitable local landraces, with desirable attributes, for use in the breeding programme. The selected landraces would be crossed with Fusarium wilt resistant varieties from ICRISAT, Kenya to introgress wilt resistant genes, while maintaining the farmer-preferred traits.