Document is current

Article History

Received: 1 December 2024

Accepted: 23 April 2026

First Online: 22 May 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) staff, who were mandated to conduct research in Uganda, carried out this work. Study objectives and purpose were conveyed to community leaders and respondents in each community. Permission was sought before data collection from local leaders and respondents. Respondents had the opportunity to stop participating in the research at any time during interviews, but none opted out during this study. This study was exempted/waived from formal ethical review because it was implemented by the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) as part of the gender-responsive breeding. NARO is a public research institution mandated to conduct agricultural research in Uganda, and the study involved non-invasive, minimal-risk data collection (survey interviews and focus group discussions) with no clinical procedures. The exemption was granted on 15 November 2020. All procedures were conducted in accordance with applicable Ugandan research governance requirements and internationally recognised ethical principles for research involving human participants, including the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

: Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection. Participants were informed about the study’s purpose, their voluntary participation, and the option to withdraw at any time without consequence. All responses were anonymized to protect participants’ privacy and confidentiality. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to data collection, which took place from 25 to 27 November 2020. Participants were informed about the study purpose, procedures, voluntary participation, confidentiality and anonymisation, and their right to decline participation or withdraw at any time without consequence.