An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

CHAPTER 11
Conclusions and Implications
for Research Policy
Melinda Smale, Wilberforce Kateera Tushemereirwe, Pamela
Nahamya Abodi, Fredrick Bagamba, Mgenzi Said Ramadhan
Byabachwezi, Svetlana Edmeades, Robert Kalyebara, Enid Katungi,
Enoch Mutebi Kikulwe, Jackson M. Nkuba, and Stanley Wood
The research compiled in this report documents the uptake of newly released banana
hybrids and recommended banana-management practices on semi-subsistence smallholder
farms in the Lake Victoria region of Uganda and Tanzania. A baseline of 800
household farms was drawn with a random sample stratified by village exposure to new banana
varieties and elevation, a factor that is related to soil fertility and the incidence of pests
and diseases. The baseline is used to characterize banana varieties, farmers, and villages statistically.
Building on previous taxonomic work and the baseline data, a complete taxonomy
of distinct banana varieties grown in the region was developed.
Econometric models were applied to the baseline data to test hypotheses related to four
aspects of banana productivity and production constraints, with implications for banana improvement.
A stochastic production frontier was estimated to assess banana production efficiency,
considering soil fertility and labor constraints. Probit, ordinary least squares, and
Heckman models were used to explain the use and extent of use of soil fertility management
practices, considering the role of social capital, in addition to farm, household, and market
characteristics. Farmer demand for planting material of transgenic banana varieties with resistance
to pests and disease, currently under development by the research program, was predicted.
A treatment model was then applied to evaluate the farm-level impact of adopting
hybrid bananas. The potential impact of farmer adoption of transgenic varieties on the banana
industry, and the social distribution of economic benefits from adoption, were then estimated
in the economic surplus framework.
Similarities and Contrasts between Uganda and Tanzania
Several economic and biophysical features of banana production are both common to the Lake
Victoria region of Uganda and Tanzania and set them apart from banana production areas in
other regions of the world. The same genomic groups, including the endemic highland banana
and two nonendemic groups, exotics and recently bred hybrids, are grown in this region. A
great diversity of varieties and clone sets, distinguished by agromorphological descriptors, is
found at the farm, village, and regional scales. Varieties are also classified locally by their use
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