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Abstract
Identifying and measuring the area under improved varieties and assessing
varietal turnover plays a central role in varietal adoption and impact
assessments. These studies have mostly relied on farmers’ responses in
household surveys to estimate these indicators. This method of ‘farmer
elicitation’ to estimate varietal adoption can be fairly accurate when the
varietal turnover is high and the seed system is well-functioning.
However, when the formal seed system is non-existent or ineffective, and
farmers mostly rely on harvested grain as the main source of planting
material, the reliability of estimating varietal adoption using farmer or
expert elicitation method can be challenging. This symposium brings
together researchers who have used the DNA-fingerprinting method for
varietal identification. It provides a forum for exchange of ideas and
sharing new insights on the challenges and potential of using this
innovative method for estimating varietal adoption and increasing the
accuracy of results of impact assessments.