For decades, the vast majority of smallholder farmers in developing countries, mainly sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and to some extent South Asia (SA), heavily rely on non-improved and auto-saved variety seed, accounting for about 80% of their material used for planting. Though the seed use figures by farmers vary from one region to another, with West Africa showing the lowest rate of improved seed use (below 20%) and South Asia with much higher rate (up to 70%), the overall situation looks less encouraging. At the same time, substantial breakthroughs have been made by breeding programs, and many more are still in the pipeline. Some of the traits of recently developed varieties have targeted the consumers’ demands and farmers’ preferences.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0845-5_1

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Lucky Omoiguihttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8473-2775

https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0845-5_1

Biotech and Plant Breeding

Food Security; Grain Legumes; Livelihoods; Smallholder Farmers; Socioeconomy; Value Chains

Grain Legumes; Tropical Legumes; Smallholders; Farmers; Subsaharan Africa; Varieties; Value Chain; Breeding; Common Beans; Groundnuts; Chickpeas; Cowpeas; Seeds

Africa; East Africa; West Africa

Ghana; Nigeria; Tanzania; Uganda

Headquarters and Western Africa Hub