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and greater economic impact, especially when participation was early in the researchprocess. Sall et al (2000) agreed and argued that the inputs of farmers to rice breedingare more important during variety development than evaluating the variety at theend of the research process. Although farmer participation accelerated and aided theprocess of varietal selection (Sumberg and Reece 2004) in the case of Bangladesh,it was the involvement of farmers in setting the breeding goals in Nepal, that is, inhelping to design the product (Witcombe et al 2005), that led to the creation of suitablevarieties such as Judi 582. No amount of participation at the varietal identificationstage can compensate for a dearth of appropriate varieties and participation offarmers at the product design stage is essential. The results here provide convincingadditional evidence that farmer involvement at the early stages of plant breeding iseffective (e.g., Virk et al 2003, 2005, Witcombe et al 2003). Judi 582 and Judi 567are the most extensively tested varieties, but nine other varieties from the client-orientedbreeding program in Nepal have also been tested in Bangladesh: all nine haveperformed better than the best locally available or recommended varieties. Two ofthese varieties, Barkhe 3004 and Super 3004, are suitable for the semideep rainfedlowlands, so varieties have been produced that are suitable for most of the rice-growingenvironments in Bangladesh.Other COB varieties, such as Barkhe 1006 and Judi 572 from Nepal and Ashoka200F from India, produced significantly more grain than Vadhai during the aus season,with a yield advantage of 35–106%. Interestingly, Ashoka 200F, which had the samecrop duration as Vadhai, produced 35% more grain.One of the greatest contributions of participatory research to cost-effectiveness isthe shortened time span between the initial development of the product and its marketing.There is usually a long lag phase of about 7–8 years between variety developmentand appreciable adoption by farmers in conventional breeding (Morris et al 1994).This process has been greatly truncated in the participatory research described hereand this has economic benefits (Pandey and Rajatasereekul 1999).Given the much higher grain yields of Judi 582 and Judi 567, these varietiescould have an impact on rice production not just at the household level but also at adistrict and national level. Farmers exposed to these introductions have expressed ahigh preference for them and there is evidence of early and rapid adoption throughthe farmers’ innovation system. It is proposed that existing formal varietal releasesystems examine this model as a means of more comprehensively evaluating potentialgermplasm and then rapidly disseminating varieties preferred by clients.ReferencesBaffes J, Gautam M. 2001. Assessing the sustainability of rice production growth in Bangladesh.Food Policy 26:515-542.Edris KM. 1990. Barind Tract: problems and potentials. Publication No. 33. Soil ResourcesDevelopment Institute (SRDI), Rajshahi. Rajshahi (Bangladesh): SRDI, Ministry ofAgriculture, Government of Bangladesh. 7 p.114 Joshi et al