Click on the link below to view the webinar by Theophilus Tengey from CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute on 19 June 2025 on On-Farm Testing in Northern Ghana Using the Tricot Approach: Successes, Challenges, and Way Forward
Presenter Bio: Theophilus Kwabla Tengey is a plant breeder by training who currently leads the CSIR-Savanna Agricultural Research Institute’s Cowpea Improvement Program. He received his PhD in Crop Science from Texas Tech University, Texas, USA. His works over the last six years has resulted in the release of two climate-smart cowpea varieties (SARI-tuya and Tuzievallenga) in northern Ghana.
For more info, contact Theophilus at: (tktengey@gmail.com)
Summary : CSIR-SARI has successfully tested the TRICOT approach in on-farm testing. This has resulted in the release of improved sweetpotato, cowpea, and groundnut varieties. Compared to the traditional mother baby trials, the TRICOT approach of on-farm testing makes it possible to test performance of candidate varieties on several farmers’ fields. The ClimMob Platform made it simple to design trials, track progress in real time, and analyse data. Analysis is simple, and the results are easily interpretable; accompanying reports after analysis makes life easier for researchers. With the help of the 1000FARMS and AVISA projects, we were able to conduct a new round of on-farm testing on candidate cowpea, groundnut, sorghum, and millet varieties. A total of 760 farmers (52% women) chose the preferred varieties based on their preferences.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Did you find any interesting clear varietal preferences among the socioeconomic data that you collected, like by gender or by youth ? | Last year, I focused more on farmers’ variety selection data rather than the socio-economic data, but I do have demographic information like gender and education levels of the farmers. The inclusion of socio-economic data is a recent development, as the initial phase of the project didn’t have it. I now recognize its value and plan to collaborate with my socio-economic team in SARI to explore and compare the data further. |
| Why would the farmers keep some varieties from the trial and continue to multiply them if they don’t have attributes that the farmers like? Secondly, what plans do you have to stop farmers from doing that? | The farmers are being given three test crop varieties at a time to compare with what they currently grow, and they naturally keep whichever performs best for them, even if it’s not yet officially released. One challenge is that some farmers start producing and spreading these varieties, identified only by experimental codes, without waiting for official approval from the national release committee. While it’s outside the researchers’ control, farmers see these varieties as improvements and may continue using them, especially for open-pollinated crops. Although breeders encourage farmers to source seeds from official channels to maintain quality, limited funding prevents researchers from compensating farmers for tricot rial participation and so farmers keep these varieties as a token or reward. This issue might be addressed in future meetings to find better control mechanisms. |
| What’s the ideal number of varieties or lines that we need to put in the plots? | It’s good you asked this question here because we have the experts around. So, normally for the Tricot trials, the plot size isn’t so big—we just use five rows by five meters. When we were setting this up, all the crop groups came together and prepared specific protocols. For example, we developed one for cowpea, and one for groundnuts. So yes, there is a standard protocol, and I’ll have to look into how best we can access that and ensure we stick to the proper plot size for implementing Tricot. |
| Comment: Mine’s just a quick follow-up to what Lewis said. Yes, farmers keeping test material is a challenge, but if they prefer a variety, it’s likely to be released anyway. Tricot has helped speed up awareness and adoption. The real concern is with hybrids, where farmers can’t replant. So, we need more education and clear standards, especially around plot sizes. |