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2 results on '"Vivian Polar"'

1. A gendered assessment of crop traits to improve breeding product design and uptake: the case of potato in Kenya

Author

Janet Mwende Mutiso, Sarah Mayanja, John Nyaga, Sophie Sinelle, Camille Renou, Charles Onyango, Guy Hareau, Vivian Polar, Jacqueline Ashby, and Julius Juma Okello

Subjects
gender-responsive, breeding, potato, target product profile, G+ tools, traits preferences, Nutrition. Foods and food supply, TX341-641, Food processing and manufacture, TP368-456
Abstract

The study assesses the gender implications of a target product profile for table potato in Kenya. Breeding programs mostly emphasize farmers’ trait requirements and rarely pay attention to other value chain actors’ preferences. This partially contributes to the low uptake of improved varieties. Therefore, efforts are required to assess the gender implications of crop product profile proposals during development, testing, and dissemination. In this paper, we assess the gender implications of traits targeted by a potato breeding program in Kenya using the G+ tools. The study applies the G+ product profile tool to examine the instances the selected traits may exacerbate gender disparity along four domains: unpaid labor, access to employment opportunities, requiring extra inputs and control over benefits. We use mixed methods including a review by social scientists, key informant interviews and a multistakeholder workshop to gather insights from female and male farmers, breeders, and other stakeholders. Findings show that pest, disease resistance, and shelf-life traits benefit women and men in the target customer segments. On the other hand, earliness, dry matter, and yield could increase drudgery for women. The traits increase demand for women’s unpaid labor during harvesting, sorting and food preparation time while also displacing women from profitable nodes. We recommend that gender-responsive strategies accompany the release of the target variety to mitigate inequities and enhance adoption.

Published
2024
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2. A review of varietal change in roots, tubers and bananas: consumer preferences and other drivers of adoption and implications for breeding

Author

Graham, Thiele, Dominique, Dufour, Philippe, Vernier, Robert O M, Mwanga, Monica L, Parker, Elmar, Schulte Geldermann, Béla, Teeken, Tesfamicheal, Wossen, Elisabetta, Gotor, Enoch, Kikulwe, Hale, Tufan, Sophie, Sinelle, Amani Michel, Kouakou, Michael, Friedmann, Vivian, Polar, and Clair, Hershey

Subjects
Rtb, plant breeding, consumer preferences, potato, root and tuber crops, varietal adoption, yam, Review, cassava, sweetpotato, Banana
Abstract

Two metrics widely used to measure the overall impact of breeding programs are: (i) adoption of modern varieties as a percentage of the total area under the crop, and (ii) the area‐weighted varietal age of a crop in a particular country or region, estimated as the average time since the release of varieties, weighted by the area across which they are adopted. The graph compares this data for roots tubers and bananas with other crops based on information gathered in 2010 (Walker & Alwang, 2015). The paper provides an update through case studies of varietal change in banana, cassava, potato, sweetpotato and yam., Summary This review of the literature on varietal change in sub‐Saharan Africa looks in detail at adoption of new varieties of bananas in Uganda, cassava in Nigeria, potato in Kenya, sweetpotato in Uganda and yams in Côte d’Ivoire. The review explored three hypotheses about drivers of varietal change. There was a strong confirmation for the hypothesis that insufficient priority given to consumer‐preferred traits by breeding programmes contributes to the limited uptake of modern varieties (MVs) and low varietal turnover. Lack of evidence meant the second hypothesis of insufficient attention to understanding and responding to gender differences in consumer preferences for quality and post‐harvest traits was unresolved. The evidence on the third hypothesis about the informal seed system contributing to slow uptake of MVs was mixed. In some cases, the informal system has contributed to rapid uptake of MVs, but often it appears to be a barrier with inconsistent varietal naming a major challenge.

Published
2020

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