Select the best. Positive selection to improve farm saved seed potatoes. Trainers manual

This training manual is designed to provide step-by step instructions to trainers in teaching potato farmers positive selection, that is, to ‘select the best’. Positive selection can be used to improve the quality of the seed potatoes saved from the farmers own crop. It is assumed that the trainer himself or herself has gone through some practical training on positive seed selection of 2-3 days before using this manual. The trainer should be able to recognize virus symptoms, bacterial wilt and late blight in the field. Further, it is assumed that the trainer knows how to grow potatoes.

The manual contains two major sections. The first section provides the background behind the technology: what are the major seed borne potato diseases; when can ‘select the best’ be helpful; and how does it actually work. This section will help the trainer understand the technology and the theory behind it. This is needed to teach the technique in a convincing way, and to be able to answer questions from the trainees. The second section outlines the training program to teach positive selection to a farmer group. The heart of the training program is a demonstration experiment. The training methodology is based on learning by doing, using the field as the classroom. The training program avoids too frequent meetings. There are 9 training sessions over a period of around 9 months.