Full Length Research Paper

Smallholder adoption and economic impacts of tissue culture banana in Kenya

Milu Muyanga

Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 012 Cook Hall, East Lansing MI 48824 USA.

E-mail: muyangam@msu.edu. Tel: +1-517-353-4545.

Accepted 21 October, 2008

   Abstract

This study was conducted with an objective of determining the correlates of adoption of tissue culture banana technology and its impacts on household incomes in Kenya. The results show that while some households have opted not to adopt tissue culture banana biotechnology, almost all the adopters are growing tissue culture bananas alongside non-tissue culture banana varieties. The scale of production and productivity of non-tissue banana varieties significantly exceeds that of tissue culture bananas. The cost of production of tissue culture bananas exceeds that of non-tissue varieties. Among the key drivers of adoption include education level of the household head, land tenure and credit availability. Incomes of households that have adopted tissue culture banana biotechnology are not a significantly different from those of the non- adopters. The results generally indicate that smallholder farmers in Kenya are yet to realize the full potential of tissue culture banana biotechnology.

Key words: Biotechnology, adoption, tissue culture bananas, Kenya.