Improving the Quality Competitiveness of Domestic Rice Relative to Imports: Experimental Evidence From Benin

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that increasing food and nutrition sovereignty in sub‐Saharan Africa through rice requires investment in quality upgrading to help domestic rice compete with rapidly increasing imports. To increase the quality competitiveness of African rice relative to imports, enhancing processing quality is essential. In Benin, modernizing parboiling techniques has shifted production from traditional methods that often yielded inferior‐quality rice. Earlier studies found that consumers were willing to pay increasing price premiums for rice processed through locally improved and modern parboiling technologies. Since then, extensive video and radio campaigns on the nutritional benefits of improved parboiling have reached millions of processors and consumers throughout Benin, warranting a renewed assessment of the state of rice quality, as perceived, experienced, and valued by urban consumers. Using experimental auctions with tasting and collective induction rounds conducted in 2017, we assess the quality competitiveness of domestic rice processed with locally improved parboiling technologies and modern technologies such as GEM (Grain quality enhancer, Energy‐efficient and durable Material) and optical sorting, relative to imported rice, and test whether its competitiveness can be further enhanced through information and tasting. Empirical results from double‐hurdle models reveal that imported rice outcompetes domestic rice in terms of value and demand, despite the upgrading of domestic processing technologies. However, the quality competitiveness of parboiled domestic rice relative to imports is strengthened by taste experiences and, to some extent, by exogenous information conveying the nutritional benefits of improved parboiling. Whereas sensory experience shifted preferences from imported to domestic rice, endogenous information further redirected preferences from modern to local processing technologies. These findings suggest that promoting the experiential qualities of domestic parboiled rice, particularly its taste, can enhance its competitiveness against imports and increase food and nutrition security in Benin.