Barriers to institutional adoption of new products innovation: A case of precooked beans among schools in Rwanda

Abstract

The concept of precooked beans was introduced in Rwanda in 2009, to counteract the disadvantage of too much energy and time consumption associated with dry beans preparation. However, their adoption has been dismal and little is known on the possible causes of this. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify constraints impeding the adoption of precooked beans among secondary boarding schools in Rwanda. A multistage sampling procedure was used to interview 64 caterers of secondary boarding schools. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze constraints hindering the adoption of precooked beans among schools. Also, logistic regression was used to analyze factors influencing the willingness to adopt precooked beans in schools. The results showed 7 majorconstraints encountered by secondary boarding schools in adopting precooked beans and 5 factors statistically influencing the willingness of schools to adopt precooked beans. The study concluded that the lack of sufficient information, higher price, unavailability, distrust in sustainability claims, lowernutritional value, inconvenient packaging and inadequate storage are the major barriers to adoption of precooked beans in schools. Therefore, this study recommends producers of precooked beans to consider the abovementioned barriers in setting their marketing strategy to enhance the consumptionof precooked beans among schools.

Losing the Energy to Cook: An Exploration of Modern Food Systems and Energy Consumption in Domestic Kitchens

“…Beans are an important part of diets in low and middle income countries. They are a good and cheap source of protein, and are widely consumed; for example, 98% of Ugandan households report frequent consumption [10], and they are the primary source of protein for 90% of Rwandan households [11].…”

“…In low and middle income countries, people usually buy dried beans, whereas cooked and canned beans are commonly found in northern countries [12]. Notwithstanding differences in cooking time and energy between different types of beans presented in Figure 3, beans typically take 2 to 3 h to cook [10,11,13]. There are ways in which this cooking time (and energy consumption) can be reduced.…”

“…For example, when little millet, pearl millet and finger millet were trialled at a school in India, where rice-based school meals were commonplace, the associated meal costs were found to be 50%, 37% and 21% higher than the rice-based meal, respectively [18]. Respondents to a study on precooked beans in schools in Rwanda identified high prices as a deterrent to the adoption of precooked beans [11]. Interestingly, this was ranked as the third constraint, behind lack of availability, but top of the list was lack of information on precooked beans.…”

“…Institutions, such as schools, prisons, and the military, present an attractive market for food processing companies, as marketing costs are lower and supply chains can be shorter. However, poor availability of precooked beans was identified as a barrier by institutional canteens in Rwanda [11], and a study in Tanzania found there was limited availability of the large quantities required by schools [16].…”

“…The project identified 12 varieties of beans that suited industrial processing techniques, and used them to create a range of products including packaged beans, bean flour, and a ready-to-eat snack. The packaged precooked beans require 10-15 min to cook in the home [11,13,14]. This reduces cooking times by 1.5 to 3 h, which results in a fuel saving of over 80% for consumers as well as water savings [13].…”