Drivers of farmers’ intentions to adopt genome-edited cassava resistant to cassava brown streak disease in Uganda Alice Onek AtimangoORCID Icon ,Stephen Wamala Kalule

Abstract

Genome editing has been increasingly promoted as a promising breeding technology to strengthen the agrifood system. However, its success largely depends on farmers’ adoption of the technology, a topic that remains insufficiently addressed in current literature. This study applies the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB) to examine farmers’ adoption intention for genome edited (GE) cassava, resistant to cassava brown streak disease, in a hypothetical scenario in a developing country context. Data was collected from a cross-sectional survey of 357 cassava farmers in Northern Uganda and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that farmers have positive intentions toward adopting GE cassava if it becomes available in the market. However, their intentions to adopt depend on their attitude, perceived behavioral control, desire, positive anticipated emotions and subjective norms. Negative anticipated emotions and subjective norms had no significant influence on the desire to adopt GE cassava. The findings also highlight the mediating role of desire and the role of affective drivers in shaping adoption intentions, underscoring the importance of dual process perspectives in agricultural technology adoption. Farmers’ education level and experience emerged as important moderators for certain model pathways, revealing a need for segmented approaches for fostering the adoption of GE cassava once they are available. This study contributes empirically by extending the application of the MGB to agricultural biotechnology and offers practical insights for future development and deployment of GE crops in developing country contexts like Uganda.