ABSTRACT

Despite their proven effectiveness in addressing micronutrient deficiencies, adoption of biofortified crops among smallholder farmers remains low. Using a cross-sectional survey dataset of 1538 households randomly selected from 15 districts in Nampula and Zambezia provinces of Mozambique, this study examined the factors influencing farmers' dis-adoption and retention decisions for biofortified OFSP varieties. Data on household socio-demographic characteristics; knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices on OFSP production and nutrition were fitted to a Heckman bivariate probit model with sample selection to empirically assess the determinants of sequential adoption and dis-adoption decisions. The results showed that adoption and dis-adoption of OFSP is significantly influenced by a combination of farmers' socio-economic characteristics (age, gender, nutrition knowledge, education, access to planting material), consumption (taste, dry matter content) and agronomic (yield, early maturity, drought tolerance) traits. However, the agronomic traits and access to planting material are particularly key for the retention of OFSP varieties. These results suggest the need for breeding efforts to improve the agronomic traits of biofortified OFSP to match or better local non-biofortified varieties and establish seed delivery systems for sustainable adoption of biofortified OFSP.

摘要

尽管生物强化作物在解决微量营养素缺乏方面已被证明是有效的，但小农对生物强化作物的采用率仍然很低。本研究使用从莫桑比克楠普拉省和赞比西亚省 15 个地区随机选择的 1538 户家庭的横断面调查数据集，研究了影响农民放弃和保留生物强化 OFSP 品种决定的因素。关于家庭社会人口特征的数据；OFSP 生产和营养方面的知识、态度、看法和做法被拟合到带有样本选择的 Heckman 双变量概率模型，以凭经验评估顺序采用和取消采用决策的决定因素。结果表明，农民对 OFSP 的采用和不采用显着影响。社会经济特征（年龄、性别、营养知识、教育、种植材料的获取）、消费（口味、干物质含量）和农艺（产量、早熟、耐旱）特征。然而，农艺性状和种植材料的获取对于保留 OFSP 品种尤为关键。这些结果表明，需要通过育种努力来改善生物强化 OFSP 的农艺性状，以匹配或改善当地的非生物强化品种，并建立种子输送系统以可持续采用生物强化 OFSP。农艺性状和种植材料的获取对于保留 OFSP 品种尤为关键。这些结果表明，需要通过育种努力来改善生物强化 OFSP 的农艺性状，以匹配或改善当地的非生物强化品种，并建立种子输送系统以可持续采用生物强化 OFSP。农艺性状和种植材料的获取对于保留 OFSP 品种尤为关键。这些结果表明，需要通过育种努力来改善生物强化 OFSP 的农艺性状，以匹配或改善当地的非生物强化品种，并建立种子输送系统以可持续采用生物强化 OFSP。