An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA 99
operation and willingness to share information
by encouraging networking (Barr 2000;
Isham 2000; Yli Renko, Autio, and Tontti
2002). Social capital variables included here
are household density of membership in associations,
norms of decisionmaking, and
leader heterogeneity in associations. Household
membership density is defined as the
number of household members that belong
to at least one association. Household
membership density reflects the household’s
capacity to acquire information from the
social network. However, the number of
household members that join an association
can also influence the opportunity cost of
time used in banana production. Hence
the nature of effect cannot be determined
a priori.
Norms of decisionmaking and heterogeneity
of leaders (in terms of livelihood
and education) in associations were used as
proxies for characteristics of associations.
These proxies measure the group’s ability
to cooperate, share information, and network
with other people beyond the village
community.
Both norms of decisionmaking and
leader heterogeneity are constructed at the
village level. Norms of decisionmaking are
defined as the degree to which members in
an association participate in important issues
of the association, computed as an additive
index from responses to two questions
regarding selection of leaders and decisionmaking
of the associations. Respondents
were asked about how important decisions
are made. Responses were: 1 (only leaders
participate), 2 (few members participate),
and 3 (all members participate). They were
also asked about how the leaders of each
association to which they belong are selected.
The responses were: 1 (by outside
agents), 2 (each leader chooses a successor),
3 (by small groups of members), and 4 (by
all members). The village index was computed
by averaging over the number of responses
in the village.
Leader heterogeneity is defined as the
degree to which leaders in associations
within a village differ from the rest of the
people, computed as an additive index from
responses to two questions concerning the
wealth and educational status of each association
leader. The responses were coded as:
1 (lower status than most members), 2
(same as most members), and 3 (higher than
most members). The village index was computed
by averaging over the number of responses
in the village.
Results
Two sets of regressions results are presented
in Table 7.3. The first set of regressions
(probit models) estimate the effect of hypothesized
factors on the decision to use or
not to use mulch or manure. The second set
of regressions predicts effect of the same
hypothesized factors on the conditional demand
for mulch and manure technologies
while correcting for selection bias. here> 7.3near