Combining participatory crop trials and experimental auctions to estimate farmer preferences for improved common bean in Rwanda

Participatory crop improvement raises the prospects for developing seed varieties that meet the needs of subsistence farmers but may face challenges regarding preference elicitation, particularly in complicated policy environments. We integrate binding experimental auctions with participatory variety selection to elicit farmers’ preferences for improved common bean varieties in Rwanda. We find that auctions reveal farmer preferences more accurately than stated nonbinding rankings in this context and that participatory on-farm crop research is essential to understanding how farmers evaluate tradeoffs between multiple crop attributes. We also find that farmers highly value intercrop yield despite government policy that encourages farmers to monocrop.