Consumer valuation of an improved rice parboiling technology: Experimental evidence from Cameroon

African countries have become increasingly dependent on rice imports, with concomitant risks for food security. Local rice often has had difficulties competing quality-wise with imported rice in urban markets. Parboiling can enhance the quality of local rice, but traditional methods often yield poor grain quality. Local rice was parboiled through an improved parboiling technology and consumers’ willingness to pay for the end product was assessed through experimental auctions on the Yaoundé market. We found that, relative to traditionally parboiled rice, consumers were 14% more likely to purchase rice parboiled through the improved technology, and those who perceived the improved product as being imported (two thirds of the auction participants) paid 5% price premiums for it, while they discounted traditionally parboiled rice by 2%. This suggests that the major value of the improved parboiling technology lies in its ability to successfully dedifferentiate local from imported rice.