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

Okello, Julius; Shikuku, Kelvin Mashisia; Lagerkvist, Carl Johan; Rommel, Jens; Jogo, Wellington; Ojwang, Sylvester; Namanda, Sam; Elungat, James

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102506

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Consequently, during the first cropping season, farmers normally do not have planting material and have to wait for the residual roots to sprout to raise seed that is then planted in the second cropping season. These sprouts usually have accumulated viruses and weevils (Okello et al, 2023) and result in low yields and poor root quality.…”

Section: Study Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Farmers who participated in the first study by Okello et al (2023) were traced and re-interviewed in mixed sex FGDs. Care was taken to ensure that both men and women were represented.…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Okello et al (2022) gathered market intelligence from sweetpotato value chain to assess the priority trait packages of different actors in Uganda. Okello et al (2023) tested the effectiveness of behavioural interventions in stimulating demand for improved sweetpotato varieties among smallholder farmers in Uganda and found that 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.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The development of a behavioural intervention to incentivise farmers to regularly replace planting materials and use good agronomic practices is intended to induce adoption of improved technologies (Ben Yishay and Mobarak, 2019). While these past nudge studies have demonstrated that social incentives can increase adoption of improved varieties, Okello et al (2023) find the converse. Rather than increasing demand for improved varieties, social incentive nudges acted to reduce it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather than increasing demand for improved varieties, social incentive nudges acted to reduce it. This study interrogates the findings of Okello et al (2023) using qualitative data collected from the same farmers. It specifically attempts to understand the barriers and enablers of variety replacement among smallholder men and women sweetpotato farmers and gives suggestions for improvement in the existing varieties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Barriers and enablers of crop varietal replacement and adoption among smallholder farmers as influenced by gender: the case of sweetpotato in Katakwi district, Uganda

Bayiyana,

Okello,

Mayanja

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Sweetpotato is climate smart crop, grown with limited external inputs (fertilisers, pesticides, less labour) making it an attractive crop for resource-constrained smallholder farmers. It is also a major cash and food crop for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. However, adoption of the high yielding and nutritious improved varieties has been disappointingly low. This study uses qualitative methods to explore the barriers and enablers of farmer varietal replacement and adoption. Unlike the extant quantitative studies that identify the determinants of adoption, we delve deeper into understanding the reasons for or against the preference for specific varieties. We used a rich set of information collected via focus group discussions which explore why farmers prefer certain varieties over others and how they perceive the new improved varieties from the national breeding programs. Doing so enabled us to unravel specific traits or trait combinations that farmers seek and identify those that they perceive needing improvement. We find that the most preferred traits were ‘yield’ and ‘good taste’. Implying that the neglect of sensory attributes by breeders contributes to the low adoption of improved sweetpotato varieties. Moreover, we find that altruism among the respondents plays an important role in farmer use of, and sharing of information about improved sweetpotato varieties. Women and men farmers obtained most of their information from neighbours, NGOs and radios. For women, the most important source of planting materials doubled as their most important source of information. Thus, concerted efforts to minimise information constraints are essential for unravelling the adoption puzzle.

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Section: Study Locationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Farmers who participated in the first study by Okello et al (2023) were traced and re-interviewed in mixed sex FGDs. Care was taken to ensure that both men and women were represented.…”

Section: Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%