WP1 G+ RTBfoods Product Profile Assessment. Understanding the Drivers of Trait Preferences and the Development of Multi-user RTB Product Profiles, WP1

Gender equity and positively supporting the livelihoods of women and men in root, tuber and banana (RTB) value chains are core objectives of RTBfoods Work Package 1 (WP1) and are essential to meeting the overall project objective. Developing (RTB) varieties requires keen attention to the preferences of its users, in addition to meeting fundamental development objectives and strengthening resilience of agricultural systems. It is in this framing that the gender work in WP1 has been designed. This work aims to address the priorities and needs of women that stem from their gendered status.
WP1 uses a 5-step mixed-method methodology to describe a high-quality food product from an evolving list of sensory, processing and agronomic characteristics, in what cumulates in the WP1 Gendered Food Product Profile (FPP) (Forsythe et al., 2022 DOI: doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.14680). Once a FPP has been drafted by a multidisciplinary ‘design team’ meeting, the adapted G+ tool is used to finalise the WP1 Food Product Profile by a gender specialist in partnership with food scientists and breeders.
The G+ RTBfoods Product Profile assessment has drawn heavily on the Gender in Breeding Initiative’s (GiB) ground-breaking tool. The G+ Product Profile Tool was developed in the CGIAR CRP RTB program to assess the gender impact of RTB plant traits (Ashby, J.A. and Polar, V. (2021). User guide to the G+ product profile query tool (G+PP). CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, User Guide 2021-2. International Potato Center: Lima, Peru. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/113189). This tool offers a validation check to reflect on key gender issues in agricultural food systems, and to prevent harm and promote positive impact. Importantly, the characteristics will be undergo further biophysical analysis (WP2) and will be translated into traits for consideration in RTB breeder profiles.