Industries usually take account of the needs of end-users of product supply chains, but government-funded institutions tend to decide on crop genetic improvements in isolation, sometimes producing apparently good cultivars that fail between release and uptake by consumers. In recognition of this problem, since the 1980s the opinions of farmers in developing countries – and their expertise and experience – have been integrated into Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) and related programmes, supervised largely by international institutes funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

This FAO book aims to strengthen the concept of PPB by stressing its reliance on ‘conventional’ plant breeding practices, and by describing its management. The 25 chapters have authors drawn mainly from international and national research institutions and universities, with emphasis on staple cereals and pulses. The broad range of plant breeding activities is covered, from mass to marker assisted selection, and through domestication via quantitative genetics to hybrid breeding and Breeders’ Rights. Some chapters make only token reference to PPB, but most focus on its theory and practice.

Together with the successes of PPB, the book reveals ongoing problems: several authors criticize administrative and legislative impediments; there is little commentary by non-scientist beneficiaries of PPB; and there is no synthesis with the concepts and practices of commercial breeding. Nevertheless, plant breeders – actual and aspiring, and particularly policy-makers – should be stimulated by the book's emphasis on the need for, and efficiency of, low-cost, science-based breeding aimed at local and niche outlets.