BENEFITS, COSTS, AND PERCEPTIONS OF A FUNGUS-RESISTANT BANANA 119


urban areas of the Southwestern and Central regions, and mostly associate the GM banana with risks (that is, food, environmental, and health risks). The total WTP among those who gain (the potential GM banana consumers) from the introduction of the GM technology is greater than the total WTP among those who lose (the potential GM banana opponents) due to this tech- nology. The findings suggest that the gainers (the majority of whom are rural consumers) can potentially compensate the potential GM banana opponents (mostly urban consumers) if a GM banana is introduced in Uganda, which is in accordance with the Hicksian compensation criterion (Just, Hueth, and Schmitz 2004). The latent class econometric analysis supports several conclusions related


to the introduction of GM bananas in Uganda. First, findings confirm that GM bananas could be a potentially pro-poor biotechnology, and their intro- duction would mostly benefit rural households who grow and buy bananas. Second, we find support for Paarlberg’s (2008) argument that negative atti- tudes of urban elites in African countries can be explained by their views on GM food being closer to the European viewpoint versus that of the rural peo- ple in their own country. Our empirical findings suggest that better educated people are on average more strongly opposed to GM bananas, which holds not only in urban areas but also in rural ones. Third, rural consumers are willing to pay a higher premium for producer benefits compared to their urban counter- parts, suggesting a significant difference between urban and rural consumers’ preferences regarding producer benefits. But findings indicate that stressing the potential benefits the technology may provide to farmers is more likely to increase the opposition toward the GM banana among the urban consumers. Based on the preferences of the various groups of stakeholders, the introduc- tion of GM bananas would be desirable for Ugandan society as a whole, and would merit policy support, albeit with consideration of compensation mech- anisms aimed at smoothing the gains and losses of benefits. Finally, the main lesson learned is that if preference heterogeneity of consumers is not consid- ered, then the results are likely to be biased. Therefore, for studies that seek to explore consumer preferences, heterogeneity is the primary hypothesis. This has implications for study design, scope, and selection of best practices for evaluation purposes.


5. What are the impacts of introducing GM bananas on food security in Uganda? What implications does introduction have for biosafety regula- tions in general?


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