Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda
Step-change innovation in seed product design by public sector crop breeding has led to major contributions to global food security. The literature, however, provides few insights on how to identify forward-looking innovation opportunities. Inspired by discussions in the product innovation literatur...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173770 |
| _version_ | 1855533540470423552 |
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| author | Donovan, Jason Rutsaert, Pieter Mawia, Harriet De Sousa, Kaue Van Etten, Jacob |
| author_browse | De Sousa, Kaue Donovan, Jason Mawia, Harriet Rutsaert, Pieter Van Etten, Jacob |
| author_facet | Donovan, Jason Rutsaert, Pieter Mawia, Harriet De Sousa, Kaue Van Etten, Jacob |
| author_sort | Donovan, Jason |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Step-change innovation in seed product design by public sector crop breeding has led to major contributions to global food security. The literature, however, provides few insights on how to identify forward-looking innovation opportunities. Inspired by discussions in the product innovation literature, this article describes our application of product concept testing in the context of hybrid maize in Uganda and Kenya. We identified the following eight maize seed product concepts based on interactions with seed companies, crop breeders, and farmers: ‘Resilience’, ‘Drought escape’, ‘Food and fodder’, ‘Home use’, ‘Green maize’, ‘Livestock feed’, ‘Intercropping’, and ‘Family nutrition’. These were described and presented to 2400 farmers using videos, where each farmer saw three concept-presentation videos. Farmers were most likely to have selected the resilience (Kenya and Uganda), drought escape (Uganda), and intercropping (Kenya) concepts. Farmers showed mixed interest in other concepts, such as home use and food and fodder, suggesting that investments in product production and promotion would be required in addition to investments in breeding. These results provide new entry points for conversations among transdisciplinary teams at regional and national levels on the current and future opportunities for crop breeding to respond to farmers’ requirements for new seed products. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace173770 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| publisherStr | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1737702025-11-11T19:00:43Z Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda Donovan, Jason Rutsaert, Pieter Mawia, Harriet De Sousa, Kaue Van Etten, Jacob agriculture farmer participation Step-change innovation in seed product design by public sector crop breeding has led to major contributions to global food security. The literature, however, provides few insights on how to identify forward-looking innovation opportunities. Inspired by discussions in the product innovation literature, this article describes our application of product concept testing in the context of hybrid maize in Uganda and Kenya. We identified the following eight maize seed product concepts based on interactions with seed companies, crop breeders, and farmers: ‘Resilience’, ‘Drought escape’, ‘Food and fodder’, ‘Home use’, ‘Green maize’, ‘Livestock feed’, ‘Intercropping’, and ‘Family nutrition’. These were described and presented to 2400 farmers using videos, where each farmer saw three concept-presentation videos. Farmers were most likely to have selected the resilience (Kenya and Uganda), drought escape (Uganda), and intercropping (Kenya) concepts. Farmers showed mixed interest in other concepts, such as home use and food and fodder, suggesting that investments in product production and promotion would be required in addition to investments in breeding. These results provide new entry points for conversations among transdisciplinary teams at regional and national levels on the current and future opportunities for crop breeding to respond to farmers’ requirements for new seed products. 2025-03-19 2025-03-21T06:56:42Z 2025-03-21T06:56:42Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173770 en Open Access application/pdf Cambridge University Press Donovan, J.; Rutsaert, P.; Mawia, H.; De Sousa, K.; Van Etten, J. (2025) Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda. Experimental Agriculture 61(e5): p. 1-18. ISSN: 1469-4441 |
| spellingShingle | agriculture farmer participation Donovan, Jason Rutsaert, Pieter Mawia, Harriet De Sousa, Kaue Van Etten, Jacob Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title | Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title_full | Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title_short | Farmers’ preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids: application of product concept testing in Kenya and Uganda |
| title_sort | farmers preferences for the next generation of maize hybrids application of product concept testing in kenya and uganda |
| topic | agriculture farmer participation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173770 |
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