Hom N. Gartaula , Gebrelibanos Gebremariam , Moti Jaleta
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Wheat is a vital cereal crop for smallholders in Ethiopia. Despite over fifty years of research on wheat varietal development, consideration of gendered trait preferences in developing target product profiles for wheat breeding is limited. To address this gap, our study used sex-disaggregated survey data and historical rainfall trends from the major wheat-growing regions in Ethiopia. The findings indicated heterogeneity in trait preferences based on gender and rainfall endowment. Men respondents tended to prefer wheat traits with high straw yield and disease-resistance potential, while women showed a greater appreciation for wheat traits related to good taste and cooking quality. Farmers in high rainfall areas seemed to prioritize high straw yield and disease resistance traits, while those in low rainfall areas valued good adaptation traits more highly. Most of the correlation coefficients among the preferred traits were positive, indicating that farmers seek wheat varieties with traits that serve multiple purposes. Understanding men’s and women’s preferences and incorporating them in breeding and seed systems could contribute to the development of more targeted and effective wheat varieties that meet the diverse needs of men and women farmers in Ethiopia.
期刊介绍:
Food Policy is a multidisciplinary journal publishing original research and novel evidence on issues in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies for the food sector in developing, transition, and advanced economies.
Our main focus is on the economic and social aspect of food policy, and we prioritize empirical studies informing international food policy debates. Provided that articles make a clear and explicit contribution to food policy debates of international interest, we consider papers from any of the social sciences. Papers from other disciplines (e.g., law) will be considered only if they provide a key policy contribution, and are written in a style which is accessible to a social science readership.