Biotech Updates

Consumer Survey on GM Banana in Uganda

June 24, 2011

A study on perception and awareness on GM banana regulation in Uganda was conducted by a team of researchers headed by Enoch M. Kikulwe of Georg-August-University Goettingen, Germany.

The findings published in Appetite showed that majority of 421 banana-consuming household of Uganda were willing to buy GM banana. Through explanatory factor analysis, perceptions on genetic modification were identified and these were used in cluster analysis. The consumers were grouped into segments of GM skepticism, government trust, health safety concern, and food and environmental safety concern. Consumer characteristics and perception factors were found to affect the willingness of the consumers to buy GM banana. Institutional trust and awareness, as well as socioeconomic characteristics, were varied across segments.

Results of the study can be used by policy makers in creating and implementing risk communication techniques for different consumer segments and address issues on GM technology.

Read the abstract of the study at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666311004831.