FARMER PREFERENCES FOR COWPEA VARIETIES IN SENEGAL: A CHOICE EXPERIMENT
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Cowpea plays a vital role in West Africa, significantly contributing to food security and the livelihoods of farmers. Despite its importance, the adoption of cowpea varieties among farmers in the region remains low, highlighting the need to understand their trait preferences. While plant breeding programs traditionally rely on the preferences of household heads to determine trait priorities, it is crucial to acknowledge the existence of diverse preferences among household members. Limited research has been conducted on the preferences of multiple household members regarding crop attributes. This study focuses on Senegal and aims to examine how the influence of household members in decision-making regarding cowpea management affects their trait preferences for cowpea varieties. By utilizing an intrahousehold crop management survey and conducting discrete choice experiments, I investigate the preferences of Senegalese farmers for cowpea traits. Additionally, I explore the heterogeneity of these preferences based on the decision-making status of household members. Furthermore, I analyze variations in trait preferences during pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest activities, considering the decision-making authority of farmers and their spouses. To gather data, separate information is collected from household heads and their spouses, resulting in 12,960 choice observations from a random sample of 540 farmers. A decision-making index is created to identify the key decision-makers in cowpea farming within each household, based on survey responses. The results reveal that Senegalese farmers prefer cowpea varieties with high seed price, grain yield, biomass yield, short maturity, more seeds per pod, and large grain size. Decision-makers prioritize higher biomass yield, shorter maturity, and smaller seed size compared to non-decision-makers. Household members with greater decision power in the pre-harvest and harvest stages prioritize high biomass yield, while those with higher decision-making authority in the post-harvest stage prefer high grain yield and short maturity. This study underscores the importance of inclusive approaches in crop breeding, ensuring that breeders' objectives align with household needs. Considering multiple household members' preferences can increase the adoption of improved cowpea varieties, fostering sustainable agricultural development in Senegal. This inclusive approach can promote social equity and enhance household consumption utility.