Socio-psychological determinants of the consumption oriented production of biofortified sweetpotato among rural households in Uganda

Biofortificationisa is a well documented strategy geared towards alleviating micronutrient deficiencies. Often promoters of the strategy aim at replacing energy dense varieties with nutrient rich biofortified varieties for production and consumption at household level.In Uganda, biofortified sweet potato varieties have been promoted to replace white fleshed energy dense varieties so as to alleviate Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD). Since the strategy adopted is to disseminate Vitamin A among the rural households relying on a crop that is well integrated into production systems that have been implemented over several decades, the study assumes that the target communities already have the physical and skills infrastructure to support sweetpotato production. The study accordingly hypothesizes that the extent to which the new Vitamin A rich (VAR) varieties substitute the traditional varieties, in the fields and diets, are determined by the rational calculations and self-efficacy of major household actors. The study also envisages key roles for power relations and gender differences in resource access and utilisation especially in dealing with a hidden problem such as VAD. In this study, therefore, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and the Health Belief Model (HBM) are combined to provide a framework for exploring the determinants of biofortified crop consumptions. Approaches and preliminary results are discussed.