Varietal Identification in Household Surveys: Results from an Experiment Using DNA Fingerprinting of Sweet Potato Leaves in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Household Determinants of the Adoption of Improved Cassava Varieties using DNA Fingerprinting to Identify Varieties in Farmer Fields: A Case Study in Colombia

“…Table 5 describes the level of adoption following farmers' self-identification of varieties and following the results of the DNA fingerprinting. As shown in Table 5, we find that farmers overestimate their use of IVs, in line with Kosmowski et al (2016), Maredia et al (2016) and Hareau et al (2016) on other root crops and tubers. On the household survey, 37 households (17.05%) believed that they were using improved cassava but after varietal identification by geneticists, only 20 households (9.22%) were found to be using IVs.…”

“…10 Results from these studies show a common misidentification of crop varieties in farmer fields and highlight a large number of varieties incorrectly identified by farmers as improved (Type I error) and varieties incorrectly identified by farmers as local cultivars (Type II error). The results of these studies underscore the importance of using DNA fingerprinting for correcting the misidentification of crop varieties Rabbi et al, 2015;Kosmowski et al, 2016;Maredia et al, 2016).…”

“…Some pilot studies related to using DNA analysis in cereal crops (wheat, maize and rice) and beans found an underestimation of the real adoption of improved cultivars Yirga et al, 2015;Maredia et al, 2016) while other studies related to root and tuber crops (sweet potato, cassava and potato) reported an overestimation of the level of adoption of improved cultivars (Hareau et al, 2016;Kosmowski et al, 2016;Maredia et al, 2016).…”

“…As estimating the level of adoption of improved varieties implies the combination of Type I and Type II errors, a potential under or over estimation of the real adoption of improved varieties will depend on the magnitude of both types of error. Some pilot studies related to using DNA analysis in cereal crops (wheat, maize and rice) and beans found an underestimation of the real adoption of improved cultivars Yirga et al, 2015;Maredia et al, 2016) while other studies related to root and tuber crops (sweet potato, cassava and potato) reported an overestimation of the level of adoption of improved cultivars (Hareau et al, 2016;Kosmowski et al, 2016;Maredia et al, 2016).…”

Is DNA fingerprinting the gold standard for estimation of adoption and impacts of improved lentil varieties?

“…Recent innovations have lowered the cost of DNA fingerprinting and made the method a feasible alternative to relying on farmer identification (Floro et al 2017;Kosmowski et al 2016;Maredia et al 2016). Despite the attractiveness of using DNA fingerprinting to identify varieties, to date there have been few assessments of how fingerprinting affects estimates of diffusion, adoption and on-field impacts of new technologies.…”