This paper examined the effect of variety attributes on adoption of improved sorghum varieties in Kenya. Using data from a random sample of 140 farmers, a multivariate probit was used to identify variety-specific drivers of adoption. The results on the perception of farmers variety attributes showed that improved varieties had desirable production and marketing attributes while the local varieties were perceived to have the best consumption attributes. Evidence further indicated that the major sorghum variety attributes driving rapid adoption are taste, drought tolerance, yield, ease of cooking, and the variety’s ability to fetch a price premium. Early maturity, a major focus of research was found to have no effect on the adoption decision. The findings of the study implied that, while developing improved seed varieties, breeders should also focus on non-yield attributes like taste and ease of cooking to increase adoption and satisfy the multiple needs of the farmers.
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2014
- Venue
Agriculture & Food Security
- Publication date
2014-05-09
- Fields of study
Agricultural and Food Sciences, Economics
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
- No claims are published for this paper.
CONCEPTS
- No concepts are published for this paper.
REFERENCES
Showing 1-24 of 24 references · Page 1 of 1
CITED BY
Showing 1-87 of 87 citing papers · Page 1 of 1