Tailoring rice varieties to consumer preferences induced by cultural and colonial heritage: Lessons from New Rice for Africa (NERICA) in The Gambia

Abstract

Rice breeding priorities in Africa often focus on agronomic gains. However, being a net importer of rice, the continent’s varietal replacement success also crucially hinges on new varieties’ market competitiveness vis-à-vis imports. Markets have been profoundly shaped by cultural and colonial heritage. Indigenous preferences for African rice can be traced back to ancient rice domestication and have been subsequently influenced by Asian rice import standards as a result of colonial import substitution policies. New Rice for Africa (NERICA) crosses between African and Asian rice species have the potential to reconcile these dual indigenous/import preferences, but little is known about their market competitiveness. We use auction market data to assess the intrinsic and extrinsic consumer value of NERICA in The Gambia relative to two market standards: branded, Asian rice imports and the most popular locally grown Asian rice variety. We categorize rice consumers into four market segments, based on their heritage as evidenced by their preferences and genealogical lineages. NERICA outperforms both Asian rice standards in terms of market competitiveness, and its value is further reinforced by colonial heritage and labeling, but somewhat weakened by cultural heritage. Consumers were found to pay price premiums for NERICA in the range of 5% to 22% relative to Asian rice imports, with the highest premiums offered by consumers with colonial heritage, representing 86% of the sample. Maintaining and expanding this market will require breeders to incorporate trait mixes that reconcile agronomic gains and consumer preferences induced by cultural and colonial heritage.

The global rice agriculture towards 2050: An inter-continental perspective

“…Therefore, research efforts need to be intensified to develop varieties with high yield and desirable grain quality in all other countries of SSA. With an increase in income, consumer preferences for high-quality rice are increasing and their quality preferences are different in different regions of the globe (Britwum and Demont, 2021; Calingacion et al, 2014). Therefore, there is a need for the development of more varieties with high yield potential for different regions of the globe with desirable grain quality.…”

Food security and the cultural heritage missing link

“…Successful substitution of imported with local rice requires that the quality of the latter matches consumer preferences. Consumers in coastal countries featuring major seaports and remote from cultural heritage have been found to develop preferences for the characteristics of imported Asian rice, while consumers exposed to rice cultural heritage either through geographical proximity to loci of African rice domestication or through genealogical ties to the original domesticators have been shown to preserve indigenous preferences for local rice ( Demont, 2013 ; Demont and Ndour, 2015 ; Demont et al, 2017 ; Britwum and Demont, 2021a , b ). Countries endowed with rice cultural heritage, however, were found to attract lower levels of investment in modern milling ( Soullier et al, 2020 ), presumably because demand for local rice with “authentic finish” is stronger than demand for rice with “import quality finish.” Rice imports have tended to be better milled (more whitened and polished) because the presence of the bran shortens its storability.…”

“…For example, the goal of boosting local rice production in the light of a dichotomy of consumer preferences for imported Asian and locally produced African rice spurred breeding priorities towards the development of NERICA varieties, which are hybridized to combine superior resilience and agronomic traits from the heritage African rice variety, O. glaberrima and the Asian variety, O. sativa . Analyzing results from auction experiments in secondary centers of rice domestication in the Senegambia region, Britwum and Demont (2021a , b) segmented participants based on ethnic affiliation into two groups: those with genealogical ties to original rice domesticators, and those without rice cultural heritage. The authors found that descendants from rice domesticators valued NERICAs more if the products matched the authentic finish of heritage rice, i.e., unbroken grains, while immigrants from the north and northeast without cultural heritage preferred the common “100% broken rice” grade of imports into this region.…”

“…Among others, this will require approaches such as a reduction in food waste and an emphasis on food valorization. While these arguments are no doubt compelling, food systems are enmeshed in culture and tradition ( Brulotte and Di Giovine 2016 ; Glover and Stone, 2018 ; Samaddar et al, 2020 ; Almansouri et al, 2021 ; Britwum and Demont 2021a , b ; Nichols, 2022 ). Across many agrarian communities, food production and processing practices and preferences for “authentic” food attributes tend to bear the hallmarks of tradition passed along successive generations.…”

“…Incidentally, the literature has been relatively mute about how cultural heritage can be leveraged to enhance and strengthen food security across the Global South. Previous efforts have largely examined cultural heritage within specific contexts such as sustainable ecological systems (e.g., Brabec and Chilton, 2015 ; Rotherham, 2015 ; Valkó et al, 2018 ; Griffiths et al, 2020 ), agritourism (e.g., LaPan and Barbieri, 2014 ), commodification and valorization (e.g., Glover and Stone, 2018 ; Bairagi et al, 2021 ), diets (e.g., Cuevas et al, 2017 ; Samaddar et al, 2020 ), and food preferences (e.g., Demont et al, 2017 ; Kapelari et al, 2020 ; Britwum and Demont, 2021a , b ; Nichols, 2022 ).…”