TY - GEN

T1 - Acceptance of bio-degradable Stoverpack among agricultural products market actors in Kampala and Wakiso districts

AU - Charlton, Adam

PY - 2023/3/16

Y1 - 2023/3/16

N2 - The biodegradable stover packs are designed to reduce post harvest losses, improve shelf life of food products and prevent food spoilage, and are tradable. The study aimed at creating awareness and assess acceptance of a new value proposition for biodegradable packs manufactured from waste maize stover in Uganda. This was achieved through assessing the different types of packs market actors majorly use, its acceptability, and how much more THEY are willing to pay for the biodegradable packs. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 84 consumers, 42 processors and 90 traders. Results revealed that consumers, processors and traders mostly used polythene bags. They were willing to purchase the new biodegradable packs at a higher price (in the range of $0.1 – 0.27). Age, sex, education, annual income, access, quantity of produce traded, amount of produce transported to the market that gets damaged during transportationweresignificant influencersof willingness of market actors of agricultural produce, to pay more for the new biodegradable stover packs. Therefore,awareness creation and acceptanceof the biodegradable packs, as a solution to environmental degradation and as a cheapersolution were pursued and achieved in this study. These are critical pre-requisites in the viability of the stoverbased biodegradable packs among market actors.Key words: biodegradable packs, market actors, maize stover.

AB - The biodegradable stover packs are designed to reduce post harvest losses, improve shelf life of food products and prevent food spoilage, and are tradable. The study aimed at creating awareness and assess acceptance of a new value proposition for biodegradable packs manufactured from waste maize stover in Uganda. This was achieved through assessing the different types of packs market actors majorly use, its acceptability, and how much more THEY are willing to pay for the biodegradable packs. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 84 consumers, 42 processors and 90 traders. Results revealed that consumers, processors and traders mostly used polythene bags. They were willing to purchase the new biodegradable packs at a higher price (in the range of $0.1 – 0.27). Age, sex, education, annual income, access, quantity of produce traded, amount of produce transported to the market that gets damaged during transportationweresignificant influencersof willingness of market actors of agricultural produce, to pay more for the new biodegradable stover packs. Therefore,awareness creation and acceptanceof the biodegradable packs, as a solution to environmental degradation and as a cheapersolution were pursued and achieved in this study. These are critical pre-requisites in the viability of the stoverbased biodegradable packs among market actors.Key words: biodegradable packs, market actors, maize stover.

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 85

BT - 3rd NARO-MAK Conference, Kampala, Uganda (14-16 March 2023)

T2 - 3rd NARO-MAK Conference

Y2 - 14 March 2023 through 16 March 2023

ER -