Our strategy has been to establish the foundation for breeding of Guinea-race sorghum hybrids for West Africa. Guinea genetic materials from diverse sources were characterized for fertility reaction by crossing onto an A1 source of cytoplasmic male sterility. The backcrossing procedure for developing Guinea male-sterile lines from varieties and breeding lines with the maintainer reaction was followed. Significant progress was made to develop male-sterile lines from the maintainer lines identified as Guinea race A/B. The sixth backcross generation was completed for CSM 207, CSM 219, Fambé, IPS001, 97-SB-F5DT-150, 97-SB-F5DT-154, 97-SB-F5DT-160, 98-BE-F5P-82, 99CLo634 and N’Tenimissa. Male-sterile lines and restorer lines of contrasting agronomic traits such as maturity, height, grain size, and panicle architecture were used to produce the first hybrids with Guinea-race background. These hybrids were evaluated in the 2004 growing season in multilocational trials in two target zones: Sahel (Bambey, Cinzana, Saria) and Sudan (Bengou, Farakoba, Kolda, Samanko, Sotuba, Wobougou (on-farm)). Farmer participatory evaluation of experimental hybrids for plant and trait preferences was conducted in both on-station and on-farm trials. Preliminary results from farmers’ observations indicated interest in large seed size, appropriate maturity, and optimal panicle architecture (with dislike of long panicles with poor grain density). Clear superior hybrid growth was observed in all environments. Initial observations suggest several parental combinations are very promising. Examples include typical Guinea landrace x interracial Guinea-Caudatum crosses and large-grain Sorghum conspicuum x West African S. guineense crosses. Also large-grain number (dense panicles) and mean seed size of the parents appears to be important. Yield results will be presented. These results will provide insights into the most promising parental combinations and help to identify the first set of commercially viable hybrids. Hybrid seed production needs to be established for specific environments, and partnerships developed.