Kilwinger Fleur Bm, Marimo Pricilla, Rietveld Anne M, Almekinders Conny Jm, van Dam Ynte K
Knowledge Technology and Innovation Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
CGIAR Research Project on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, Montpellier, France.
Outlook Agric. 2020 Jun;49(2):119-132. doi: 10.1177/0030727020930731. Epub 2020 Jun 22.
The adoption of improved seed and other planting material in developing countries shows mixed results despite their potential to increase agricultural productivity. To arrive at a better understanding of the observed adoption rates, a lot of research is focused on finding the cultivars and variety traits that are attractive to farmers. Given smallholder farmers' seed sourcing practices are often influenced by social ties and cultural norms, it is also relevant to understand where and why farmers seek to acquire planting material. In this study, means-end chain analysis was applied to understand farmers' perceptions of formal and informal sources of banana planting material. Means-end chain analysis allows respondents to select and verbalize their own constructs to evaluate a product or service. These personally relevant constructs are subsequently linked to their personal goals via laddering interviews. We interviewed 31 Ugandan banana farmers from Western and Central region. Farmers associated formal sources mainly with improved cultivars, tissue culture plantlets and low levels of diversity. Informal seed sources were mostly associated with traditional cultivars, suckers and high levels of diversity. The goals farmers pursued while acquiring planting material, such as financial gains, food security, and to sustain and develop the household, were fairly similar among different groups of farmers. The means through which farmers aimed and preferred to pursue these goals differed and could be related to aspects such as gender, production scale and production goals. These differences among farmers preferences for particular sources indicate that not only cultivar traits should be tailored to farmers' preferences and needs, but also the characteristics of the sources from which farmers access planting material.
尽管改良种子和其他种植材料有提高农业生产力的潜力，但在发展中国家的采用情况却喜忧参半。为了更好地理解观察到的采用率，许多研究都集中在寻找对农民有吸引力的品种和品种特性上。鉴于小农的种子采购行为往往受到社会关系和文化规范的影响，了解农民在哪里以及为什么寻求获取种植材料也很重要。在本研究中，采用了手段-目的链分析来了解农民对香蕉种植材料的正式和非正式来源的看法。手段-目的链分析允许受访者选择并阐述他们自己的概念来评估一种产品或服务。这些与个人相关的概念随后通过阶梯式访谈与他们的个人目标联系起来。我们采访了来自乌干达西部和中部地区的31位香蕉种植农民。农民们将正式来源主要与改良品种、组培苗和低多样性水平联系在一起。非正式种子来源大多与传统品种、吸芽和高多样性水平相关。不同农民群体在获取种植材料时所追求的目标，如经济收益、粮食安全以及维持和发展家庭，相当相似。农民们旨在并倾向于通过其来追求这些目标的方式有所不同，并且可能与性别、生产规模和生产目标等方面有关。农民对特定来源的偏好差异表明，不仅品种特性应根据农民的偏好和需求进行调整，而且农民获取种植材料的来源特征也应如此。
