Browsing by Author "De Steur, Hans"

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    Applying the food technology neophobia scale in a developing country context.
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2015-10-07) De Steur, Hans; Odongo, Walter; Gellynck, Xavier
    The success of new food technologies largely depends on consumers' behavioral responses to the innovation. In Eastern Africa, and Uganda in particular, a technology to process matooke into flour has been introduced with limited success. We measure and apply the Food technology Neophobia Scale (FTNS) to this specific case. This technique has been increasingly used in consumer research to determine consumers' fear for foods produced by novel technologies. Although it has been successful in developed countries, the low number and limited scope of past studies underlines the need for testing its applicability in a developing country context. Data was collected from 209 matooke consumers from Central Uganda. In general, respondents are relatively neophobic towards the new technology, with an average FTNS score of 58.7%, which hampers the success of processed matooke flour. Besides socio-demographic indicators, ‘risk perception’, ‘healthiness’ and the ‘necessity of technologies’ were key factors that influenced consumer's preference of processed matooke flour. Benchmarking the findings against previous FTNS surveys allows to evaluate factor solutions, compare standardized FTNS scores and further lends support for the multidimensionality of the FTNS. Being the first application in a developing country context, this study provides a case for examining food technology neophobia for processed staple crops in various regions and cultures. Nevertheless, research is needed to replicate this method and evaluate the external validity of our findings.
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    Iodine Agronomic Biofortification of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) and Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) Is Effective under Farmer Field Conditions
    (Agronomy MDPI, 2019-11-23) Ojok, Joe; Omara, Peter; Opolot, Emmanuel; Odongo, Walter; Olum, Solomon; Gijs, Du Laing; Gellynck, Xavier; De Steur, Hans; Ongeng, Duncan
    Abstract: Iodine (I) is an essential micronutrient, which plays a critical role in human metabolism. However, its concentration is known to be low in most soils, making it deficient in crops. With most I agronomic biofortification studies conducted under controlled environments, limited information currently exists on this approach of enriching I deficient crops under farmer field conditions. Two-year field experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 to examine efficacy of cowpea and cabbage in the uptake of foliar applied potassium iodide (KI) and potassium iodate (KIO3), each with 0, 5, 10, and 15 kg I ha−1 under farmer field conditions. Results indicate that KI was 34% more efficient than KIO3. Iodine concentration increased with application rate. In cabbage, the lowest I concentration (8.2 mg kg−1 ) was registered at 5 kg I ha−1 with KIO3 while the highest was 109.1 mg kg−1 at 15 kg I ha−1 with KI. Cowpea registered the lowest I concentration of 531.5 mg kg−1 at 5 kg I ha−1 with KIO3 while the highest (5854.2 mg kg−1 ) was registered at 15 kg I ha−1 with KI. Therefore, cowpea and cabbage can be effectively biofortified through foliar application of both KI and KIO3 under farmer field conditions.