If farmers want to cultivate the local varieties have two big advantages:

the landraces are adapted to local soil conditions and climate,

are genetically stable, it retains the characteristics in  time unlike the hybrids segregated from one generation to the next.

They can use their personal products seeds from one year to the other  while hybrids must to buy annually.

Thank you so much for your feed back, you are true, we have to raise the awareness of farmers toward these local land races especially in the climatic changes nowadays, because they are already adapted to these changes.

Crop garden to preserve the land races and to familiarize its benefit can be one of the options.

1. aware the people about the role of local races in the breeding programme

2. aware the people about the royalty that they can have by registering their variety. for example in India farmers can register their varieties under the act known as PPV & FR Act - 2001

3. aware the people about the adaptability of landraces to the local environment

4. tell them about the resistance of local biodiversity against various biotic or abiotic stress

The landraces are regarded as climate resilient cultivars  and are well adapted to local climates. The quality of product of such land races has been noted excellent in case of coarse cereals, pulses, spices and medicinal and aromatic plants. Dr. Manohar has rightly mentioned in India PPVFRA registers such land races and protects farmers right as they are custodian of such landraces. PPVFRA give awards to such farmers for their valuable contribution in conservation of native land races. 

Thank you all, DRs. J. C. Biswas and Suresh K and Malhotra Manohar Lal   , you are absolutely right, we have to raize the awareness of farmers regarding the adaptability of these land races, and I like the incentives , it is a very good idea to encourage farmers to keep these varieties.

Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) is based on the idea that farmers  as well as professional plant breeders have important knowledge and skills that could complement one another. PPB is broadly defined here as a range of approaches that involve a mix of actors (including scientists, breeders, farmers and other stakeholders) in plant breeding stages.

Development projects can support farmer-led PPB through four broad types of interventions: 1) Germplasm support to increase farmers' access to diversity (using fixed or segregating, local or external materials), combi- ned with testing new material, and supporting seed systems (community seed banks) 2) Skills support in breeding, testing or seed production (either new skills or extending local best practices) 3) Support in forming links and networks to exchange material or information 4) Indirect support to confront barriers to farmer-breeding (e.g. restrictive seed laws), or help promote PPB in other ways, such as market development.

Using the mechanism of subventions granted in agriculture as practiced in the European Union.

Farmers who cultivate local varieties to receive a subventions from State.

Thank you Gonzalo Galileo Rivas Platero , you are right, that we have to focus on the Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB), the participatory approach is a very good tool to disseminate any idea.

Thank you Mr. Al Hiary, Participatory plant breeding (PPB) can strengthen farmer seed systems, defined as the ways in which farmers produce, select, save and acquire seeds. PPB supports the development and maintenance of a more genetically diverse portfolio of varieties

Thank you Dr. Luliana, you idea is very interesting but it is not easy to do this in my country, they want to release subsidies instead of providing new one, but I think this is the best way to increase planting local varieties

Dear Masnat, practically, the approach should involve a mix of extension methods and fostering functional partnerships.

1. Establish crop demonstration sites in selected communities to promote the need to plant the landraces

2. Use the demonstration sites/plots as learning and reflection sites for farmers, extension staff and other stakeholders. Use the sites for activities such as field days and exchange visits

3. Prepare clear information packs that farmers and extension staff can refer to. 

4. Work with local institutions (extension, private sector, local leaders) to encourage farmers to plant the landraces as well as provide technical and related services that they may need.

Thanks 

Thank you Dr. Haroon Sseguya, you are absolutely right , and actually we are doing the same thing since 90's, this is the most successful approach, and we have to find a fund for supporting and giving incentives to farmers.

The strategies suggested by Haroon Sseguya are the right approaches to your question Masnat. But like Suresh has pointed out, these can be very effective in countries where Farmers' Rights are recognised (as enshrined in Article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Organisation).

Funding is indeed required for this kind of task as many governments are often not willing to invest in the conservation and use of local germplasm (landraces). They would rather promote hybrids at the expense of local agrobiodiversity. But the good news is that there is now growing interest in landraces as they are seen to have the potential to adapt to local environmental shocks resulting from climate change and therefore can make the farming communities become resilient to climate change effects.

The promotion of Participatory Plant Breeding programmes would also be a good incentive to the farmers to conserve the landraces on-farm. And, the involvement of the private sector would also be crucial for uptake of information generated in the landraces conservation efforts into the robust crop improvement prgrammes.

 Farm specialization and the general abandonment of mixed farming is a significant factor in the decline of biodiversity, including genetic resources for food and agriculture and wildlife, and of the disintegration of traditional and community-based management. The adoption of high-yielding, uniform cultivars has led to a considerable reduction in the number of genetically viable species used in agriculture. Many food crop varieties have virtually disappeared from their centres of diversity. promotion of Participatory Plant Breeding programmes would also be a good incentive to the farmers to conserve the landraces on-farm.

Please see this link for details http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4586e/y4586e05.htm

Thank you so much, Mr Sureh, you are right, the promotion of participatory plant breeding programmes would be a good incentive to to the farmers to conserve the land races on-farm.

One solution is that the farmers to have its own unpleasant experience with hybrids or genetically modified organisms. A good example is the experience of farmers in Sri Lanka where genetically modified cotton (introduced in country by a seed international company)  has textile fiber much shorter than the native varieties.  The local farmers have understood that its quality is much lower when the farmers losing a lot of money because of the low price of genetically modified cotton in comparison with autochthonous cotton which has long textile fiber and is much better quality.

Thank you dear Iuliana, but I am worried because until they discover the bad results which will take time, this may happened but they will loose the land races!!!

http://www.ecpgr.cgiar.org/fileadmin/bioversity/publications/pdfs/1347_European_landraces_on-farm_conservation_management_use.pdf