Market Intelligence and Incentive-Based Trait Ranking for Plant Breeding: A Sweetpotato Pilot in Uganda

Decision tree scoring system to guide selection for consumer preference in sweetpotato breeding trials

BACKGROUND

Previously, a lexicon and protocol for quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was established for the Uganda sweetpotato breeding program. The implication of QDA scores for priority sensory attributes on consumer preference should be determined to interpret results efficiently and make decisions effectively. The present study aimed to develop a gender-responsive decision tree to obtain an overall sweetpotato eating quality score to facilitate demand-led targeted breeding selection. It focused on Kamuli and Hoima districts (Uganda) and uses pre-lease advanced clones ('NKB3', 'NKB105', 'NKB135', 'D11' and 'D20'), released varieties ('NASPOT 8' and 'NAROSPOT 1') and landraces ('Muwulu-Aduduma', 'Umbrella').

RESULTS

Including boiled sweetpotato sensory characteristics, namely mealy, sweet taste, sweetpotato smell, firm and not fibrous, in breeding design would benefit end-users, especially women given their role in varietal selection, food preparation and marketing. 'D20', 'NASPOT 8' and 'NAROSPOT 1' were most liked in both districts. 'NKB3' and 'D11' were the least liked in Hoima, whereas 'Muwulu-Aduduma' was the least liked in Kamuli. There was a positive correlation between color and overall liking (r2 = 0.8) and consumers liked the color (average rating ≥ 6 on a nine-point hedonic scale) of all genotypes. Threshold values (average rating on 11-point scales) for consumer acceptability were identified (sweet taste = 6, sweetpotato aroma and flavor = 6, firmness = 3, and mealiness = 4). A regression decision tree tool was created to calculate an eating quality selection index when screening lines in breeding programs using the values.

CONCLUSION

Decision trees that include consumer needs and gender considerations would facilitate demand-led breeding and make varietal selection in sweetpotato breeding programs more effective. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Gender mainstreaming in sweetpotato breeding in Uganda: a case study

Purpose

In Uganda, sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] is typically a "woman's crop," grown, processed, stored and also mainly consumed by smallholder farmers for food and income. Farmers value sweetpotato for its early maturity, resilience to stresses, and minimal input requirements. However, productivity remains low despite the effort of breeding programs to introduce new varieties. Low uptake of new varieties is partly attributed to previous focus by breeders on agronomic traits and much less on quality traits and the diverse preferences of men and women in sweetpotato value chains.

Method

To address this gap, breeders, food scientists, and social scientists (including gender specialists) systematically mainstreamed gender into the breeding program. This multidisciplinary approach, grounded in examining gender roles and their relationship with varietal and trait preferences, integrated important traits into product profiles.

Results

Building on earlier efforts of participatory plant breeding and participatory varietal selection, new interventions showed subtle but important gender differences in preferences. For instance, in a study for the RTBFoods project, women prioritized mealiness, sweetness, firmness and non-fibrous boiled roots. These were further subjected to a rigorous gender analysis using the G+ product profile query tool. The breeding pipelines then incorporated these gender-responsive priority quality traits, prompting the development of standard operating procedures to phenotype these traits.

Conclusion

Following an all-inclusive approach coupled with training of multidisciplinary teams involving food scientists, breeders, biochemists, gender specialists and social scientists, integration into participatory variety selection in Uganda enabled accentuation of women and men's trait preferences, contributing to clearer breeding targets. The research has positioned sweetpotato breeding to better respond to the varying needs and preferences of the users.

Social incentives as nudges for agricultural knowledge diffusion and willingness to pay for certified seeds: Experimental evidence from Uganda

A transition from low-input subsistence farming in Sub-Saharan Africa will require the use of yield-increasing agricultural technologies. However, in developing countries, most farmers continue to rely heavily on pest-infested and disease-infected recycled seed from own or local sources leading to low yields. This study used a field experiment to examine the effect of a social incentive combined with goal setting on the diffusion of agricultural knowledge and uptake of quality certified seed by farmers. We relaxed the seed access and information/knowledge constraints by introducing improved varieties of sweetpotato in the study villages and providing training to carefully selected progressive farmers who were then linked to co-villagers. We find that social incentives combined with goal setting reduced the likelihood of the trained progressive farmers reaching out to co-villagers to share information and discuss farming. Further, social incentive combined with goal setting had no significant effect on knowledge and experimentation by progressive farmers, and on willingness to pay for improved seed - as elicited through auctions, our proxy for experimentation, by co-villagers. These findings suggest that the combination of goal setting and public recognition acted to crowd-out diffusion effort. We conclude that social incentive combined with goal setting by established progressive farmers already enjoying a certain degree of public recognition is not sufficient to induce effort in learning and experimentation with agricultural innovations. These results have implications for design of policy and extension services to promote adoption of agricultural technologies with proven food and nutrition security benefits in developing countries.