BENEFITS, COSTS, AND PERCEPTIONS OF A FUNGUS-RESISTANT BANANA 125
statistically significant differences between hypothetical and real willingness to pay or when estimating the marginal values of attributes. As a result, in our study respondents were informed about the ongoing biotechnological inno- vations in Uganda using brochures prior to the interviews. They were also reminded that there were no right or wrong answers, and that they should consider their choices carefully. In addition, Lancaster (1966) recommended that to determine the product attribute, it is very important to contact the potential consumers directly. In our study informal interviews with consum- ers, such as focus group discussions, were used to develop and design the ques- tionnaire, which was later pretested on both rural and urban consumers prior to primary data collection. With a view to the caveats discussed, the findings support Edmeades and Smale (2006)—who used a revealed preference tech- nique to predict the demand of GM banana-planting materials. However, an empirical investigation comparing hypothetical and real market situations may be warranted. In the empirical analysis of SIRBs, the data for nonprivate net benefits were
not available in the public domain. Hence, the SIRBs were estimated based on private net benefits. Furthermore, when estimating the MISTICs, we did not include the transaction costs that might be involved between the tech- nology developers and the end users, including R&D costs, compliance with biosafety regulatory costs, and technology fees.8 Such costs can be substantial and are one of the major obstacles to technology dissemination in develop- ing countries such as Uganda (Brenner 2004). The problem is not limited to GM technology but includes embodied technologies in general. Adding such costs will reduce the SIRBs. Again, they should on average not be more than the SIRBs per hectare, and should be even less if biosafety regulatory costs at the farm level are added. Another limitation of the study is that the MISTICs calculated were generally for Uganda as a country; however, they are likely to vary by region and even by cultivar. Edmeades (2003) notes the diversity of banana cultivars is high at the country, village, and household levels. On aver- age, 23 different banana cultivars are grown at the village level across Uganda, with approximately 5 different cultivars of cooking bananas grown per house- hold. Households located at high elevations, such as the Southwestern region, were found to grow more cultivars compared to those at low elevations (for example, the Central region and most parts of the Eastern region). Thus, MISTICs may be larger for regions (or households) where banana production
8 As technology fees charged by innovators are used to recover R&D and biosafety costs, it is imperative to include such costs as net costs to society to avoid double-counting.
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