Heterogeneity in male and female farmers’ preference for a profit-enhancing and labor-saving technology: The case of Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) in India

Labor-saving and income-increasing technologies may affect women farmers differently from men. However, very few studies explicitly account for women's preferences for new technologies. We carried out a discrete choice experiment with 337 female and 329 male farmers in Maharashtra, India, to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for direct-seeded rice (DSR) with drum seeder and to understand the gender differences in marginal valuations of key attributes. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in different domains of decision making. The respective gender roles of women and men in the family and on the farm are aligned with their preferences. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher WTP for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms. Women, therefore, seem to value labor saving more. Women in our sample were more interested in the new technology and had a higher WTP for it.     

Choice of Rice Production Practices in Ghana: A Comparison of Willingness to Pay and Preference Space Estimates

Rice has been identified as an important food security crop in Ghana. However, there is a production deficit and new technologies to reduce the deficit are not widely adopted. Although poor adoption by farmers’ is often linked to constraints such as access to information, farmers’ perceptions of the technologies are also important. We apply an advanced discrete choice experiment to evaluate farmers’ preferences for rice production practices. Specifically, we generate willingness to pay (WTP) estimates using willingness to pay space (WS) and compare these with values from the indirect or preference space (PS) method. Our modelling also accounts for the effects on WTP estimates of farmers’ stated attribute importance (SAI) information. Empirical results from WS and PS models reveal that on average, farmers value higher yields and are negatively affected by higher risk of crop failure and labour requirements. Comparing the performance of the two models, we find the WS model provides a superior fit to our data and reduces the likelihood of producing implausible WTP estimates. Further, SAI inclusion did not produce much variation in our WTP estimates.     

The Performance of Low External Input Technology in Agricultural Development: A Summary of Three Case Studies

This paper summarises the findings of a study that examined the performance of low external input technology (LEIT) in three major projects. The projects promoted soil restoration (Honduras), soil and water conservation (Kenya) and IPM (Sri Lanka). The focus projects were large and well-managed and the study examined outcomes five or more years after project completion. An assessment of the utilisation, adaptation and abandonment of the technologies, found fairly consistent experiences that allow several general conclusions. In many instances LEIT makes important contributions to farm productivity. LEIT is not usefully categorised as labour-intensive, and the growing importance of hired labour makes it difficult to see LEITas a separate class of technology. Its uptake patterns are similar to those of conventional technology (with commercial incentives particularly important) and spontaneous diffusion of the technology is often less than expected. LEIT, on its own, makes only modest contributions to strengthening human and social capital. Implications for the promotion of LEIT and the development of farmer organisations are discussed.     

Consumer willingness to pay for genetically modified food in Kenya

Genetically modified (GM) crops are popular in many regions of the world, but their deployment in Africa is hindered by safety concerns and regulatory issues, although the continent is in dire need of boosting its food production. Although consumers' acceptance of GM food has been analyzed in many continents, no such studies have been conducted in Africa. Therefore, a survey of 604 consumers was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2003, to gauge consumers' awareness of GM crops, their willingness to pay (WTP) for GM food, and the factors that influence their WTP. Consumers' knowledge of GM crops was limited and only 38% of the 604 respondents were aware of GM crops. People in higher education and income groups were more aware than others. Regardless, people were generally appreciative of the technology, and a large majority (68%) would be willing to buy GM maize meal at the same price as their favorite brand. Consumers were, however, concerned about possible side effects, especially on the environment and biodiversity. WTP was estimated using a double‐bounded dichotomous choice model, and the mean WTP was found to be 13.8% higher than the average price of non‐GM maize meal. Perceptions of health risk, and ethical and equity concerns had a negative influence on the likelihood of purchasing GM maize meal, whereas trust in government to ensure food quality had a positive influence on WTP. People with at least some secondary education and those in the high‐income category were more likely to purchase GM maize meal at the same price. The study concludes that, because awareness is still low, appropriate communications are needed to involve the consumer in the debate. Consumers' acceptance in this study was high, but the research needs to be expanded to rural areas, where most consumers live, and other survey methods need to be explored.     

An Economic Analysis of Localized Pollution: Rendering Emissions in a Residential Setting

The contingent value method is employed to estimate economic damages to households resulting from rendering plant emissions in a small town. Household willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) are estimated individually and in aggregate. The influence of household characteristics on WTP and WTA is examined via regression models. The perception of health risk is an important determinant of household valuation, while income appears insignificant. Both WTA and WTP results indicate that a potential Pareto-improvement is possible with the incorporation of current abatement technology La méthode des valeurs contingentes est utilisée pour évaluer les dommages économiques causés aux ménages par les émissions d'une usine d'équarrissage dans une petite localité. Les valeurs WTA et WTP des ménages sont estimées séparément puis sous formes agrégee. L'influence des caractères du ménage sur la WTP et la WTA est examinée au moyen de modèles de régression. La perception du risque pour la santé est un déterminant important de la valeur accordée par le ménage, alors que le niveau de revenu n'aurait qu'une influence négligeable. Les valeurs WTA et WTP obtenues laissent voir qu'un critère Pareto serait possible avec la mise en place des techniques modernes antipollution     

Consumer Willingness to Pay for Low-Pesticide Fresh Produce in Taiwan

Willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in health risk associated with consuming pesticide residues on vegetables are estimated using the contingent valuation method with in-person interviews of married females in Taiwan. Estimated median WTP for 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 90 per cent reductions in the risk of developing cancer from consuming pesticide residues on a popular Taiwanese vegetable, bok choy, are estimated as 46 per cent, 56 per cent and 75 per cent of the current price of bok choy, respectively. WTP is significantly related to the scope or magnitude of the risk reduction, although it varies less than proportionately to the risk increment. WTP is also significantly related to measures of consumer preferences for health.     

Risk Attitudes,Social Interactions,and the Willingness to Pay for Genotyping in Dairy Production

Bovine Mastitis is one of the most prevalent and costly production diseases in the dairy industry in Canada and worldwide causing major animal welfare problems, environmental problems, and productivity losses. In this paper, we examine the effects of risk attitudes and social interactions on the willingness to pay (WTP) for genotyping animals for susceptibility to a chronic mastitis trait. We use contingent valuation with double bounded dichotomous choice questions to elicit producers’ WTP. The estimated mean WTP for genotyping is approximately $50 per animal. Compared to the current market prices of commercially available comprehensive genotyping services, this estimate suggests a significant market potential for genotyping to be bundled with economically important disease traits. We also find evidence that both risk attitudes and social interactions have strong effects on the WTP for genotyping. Farmers with higher risk tolerance are willing to pay more for genotyping service. For dairy farmers with more concern about mastitis, risk tolerance has no significant effect on the WTP, while social interactions have a significant effect on the WTP. We also find a strong interaction effect between risk tolerance and social interactions. The findings encourage interest in questions about how risk attitudes, social networks, and their interactions shape the adoption of and the WTP for a novel agricultural technology. La mastite bovine est la maladie de production la plus répandue et la plus coûteuse de l'industrie laitière au Canada et mondialement causant des problèmes en ce qui concerne le bien‐être des animaux, l'environnement et la perte de productivité. Cet article examine les effets de l'attitude à l′égard du risque et des interactions sociales concernant la volonté de payer pour le génotypage d'animaux pour le dépistage de la susceptibilité à posséder le trait de mastite chronique. L'évaluation contingente avec questions à double proposition dichotomique a été utilisée afin d'obtenir la volonté de payer des producteurs. La volonté moyenne estimée de payer pour le génotypage s'élève à approximativement 50 $ par animal. Comparée aux prix courants du marché pour les services commerciaux complets de génotypage, cette estimation suggère un potentiel commercial significatif pour grouper le génotypage à d'autres traits de maladie d'importance économique. Nous trouvons aussi trouvé que les attitudes à l′égard du risque et les interactions sociales avaient un impact significatif sur la volonté de payer pour le génotypage. Les fermiers démontrant une grande tolérance au risque sont disposés à payer plus pour les services de génotypage. Pour les producteurs laitiers préoccupés par la mastite, la tolérance vis‐à‐vis du risque n'a aucun effet sur la volonté de payer, tandis que les interactions sociales en ont une importante. Nous notons aussi un effet significatif d'interaction entre la tolérance pour le risque et les interactions sociales. Les résultats favorisent un questionnement au sujet des attitudes à l′égard du risque, des réseaux sociaux et de leurs interactions, cherchant comment ces derniers guideront l'adoption de nouvelles technologies agricoles et la volonté d'en acquérir.     

Effects of Label Information on Consumer Willingness-to-Pay for Food Attributes

Choice experiments (CEs) are often used to elicit consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) for food attributes. A concern about these approaches is that food attributes provided to respondents are assumed independent of attributes not provided. We use surveys containing a series of CEs to investigate effects of adding beef steak attributes. WTP for important attributes in the CEs decrease when the number of attributes increases from three to four, while WTP increases when the number of attributes increases from four to five. Changes in WTP for attributes depend on their relationships with newly added attributes and the number of attributes presented.     

Convergent validity in contingent valuation: an application to the willingness to pay for national climate change mitigation targets in Germany

This stated preferences survey determines the willingness to pay (WTP) for climate change mitigation policies using a representative sample of the German population. WTP is compared across three valuation question formats in a split sample design: the dichotomous choice (DC) referendum, the dissonance minimizing (DM) referendum and the two‐way payment ladder (TWPL). The influence of multinational cooperation on WTP is assessed by variation in the hypothetical scenarios. We demonstrate that the DM referendum and the TWPL, two question formats that induce similar response incentives, yield equal mean WTPs. Multinational cooperation did not change WTP in any of the question formats. Implications for current contingent valuation practice are discussed.     

Technology,market policies and institutional reform for sustainable land use in southern Mali

To identify appropriate interventions that support sustainable land use; a farm household modelling approach is applied to analyze micro-economic supply reactions to various policy measures. The modelling framework links agro-technical and economic data, and takes both production and consumption decisions into account, allowing land use and production technology adjustments in accordance with farm household objectives. Different types of farm households are distinguished on the basis of their resource endowments, savings coefficients and time discount rate. Actual and alternative (sustainable) cropping and livestock activities for different weather regimes are defined for southern Mali. The effects on sustainable land use and expected farm household welfare of adopting alternative technologies and modifying prices, transaction costs, access to credit and land taxes are demonstrated. Even with full information on sustainable technologies, strong policy interventions are required to halt soil degradation. Structural policies proved to be more effective than price policies to reduce soil degradation while maintaining positive income effects. When prices are determined endogenously, structural policy loses some effectiveness as an incentive for sustainable land use due to the effect of additional supply on local cereal and meat Prices.     

东北黑土区农户保护性耕作技术采用行为研究基于政府规制的调节效应分析

[目的]探究黑土区农户保护性耕作技术采用行为,对推动黑土区农业可持续发展具有重要意义。[方法]文章从感知价值视角出发,利用东北黑土区的733份农户调研数据,采用结构方程模型,探讨了政府规制在农户感知价值与保护性耕作技术采用行为过程中的调节作用。[结果]（1）农户的感知利益和感知风险对农户采用保护性耕作技术的意愿和行为都具有直接和间接的显著影响,其中感知利益对农户采用保护性耕作技术意愿的正向影响程度最大,感知风险对农户采用保护性耕作技术行为的负向影响程度最大;（2）政府规制在农户感知价值与保护性耕作技术采用行为发生过程中具有调节作用,激励型政策的实施促进了农户技术采用意愿向采用行为的转化,约束型政策的实施扩大了农户感知风险对技术采用意愿的负向影响。[结论]地方政府应通过提升农户保护性耕作技术感知利益、降低感知风险、优化激励型和约束型政策等方面,引导黑土区农户采用保护性耕作技术。     

A multi-criteria model for land valuation in the land consolidation

Land consolidation is an effective technique in land management that contributes to sustainable rural development. Land valuation is one of the most important steps in land consolidation because it plays an important role in the reallocation process. Land valuation is also an important problem in Turkey as in many countries in the world. Because the lands will be reallocated at the end of the consolidation process, it is very important to determine the precise value of each parcel. However, the methods used in land valuation in many countries lag behind current techniques and technologies. For this reason, a new method for land valuation is needed. The purpose of this study was to develop a new model based on multi-criteria calculations that is suitable for today's technologies and addresses the weakness in the current land valuation methods. In a case study of Solak, Antalya, Turkey, we identified fourteen key land value factors. Those factors were assigned weights by the Land Valuation Committee, academic staff, engineers, and local landowners. The weights were then integrated into a framework called the Land Quality Index. The land quality index factors are the criteria for evaluating the geographical, physical, and socio-economic structure of the region. The scores for each factor on each parcel were determined using GIS software. The total score of fourteen factors was then converted to a 100-point scale, that comprised the Land Quality Index. The land value of each parcel was determined by adding the soil index to the Land Quality Index. In our study, we also created three different models to investigate how the parameters were apportioned during the land valuation. We found that, while the current method used by the government agency (General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works) classified the lands into five groups, our methods classified the lands into 17, 20, 24 groups, respectively. In addition, while the deduction rate was 4.97 % in the current method, they were 4.89 %, 4.86 % and 4.85 % in our new models, respectively. The method we proposed in this study determined land values more accurately, precisely, and fairly compared to current method used by General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works. It is suggested that our models could be used instead of the current method in the land consolidation works in Turkey.     

The effects of current income and expected change in future income on stated preferences for environmental improvements

We formulate and test the hypothesis that expectations regarding changes in future income influences the WTP for environmental goods. For valuation of environmental goods in forests and other habitats in Denmark, we find that both current income and expected changes in future income are significant determinants for preferences. The effect of income on WTP seems to be caused by changes in preferences for environmental attributes rather than by marginal utility of income. The results suggest that to evaluate the distributional impacts of environmental improvements, researchers need a better measure of expected future consumption options than current income.     

Aquaculture imports from Asia: an analysis of U.S. consumer demand for select food quality attributes

The increasing share of imported food in the United States, coupled with highly publicized incidents of food contamination and adulteration in Asia, particularly China, is posing new challenges for consumers and food safety regulators. In this study, we focus on imported shrimp and tilapia, to evaluate consumer willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for enhanced food safety, use of antibiotics, and eco‐friendly environmental practices. Results show that U.S. consumers were willing‐to‐pay more for enhanced food safety, followed by the use of no antibiotics and environmental friendly production practices. American consumers in our sample were found to have a higher WTP for domestic products and placed more trust on U.S. government verification of product attributes followed by third‐party certification.     

Labels for a Local Food Speciality Product: The Case of Saffron

We examine the potential demand for a local food speciality product, saffron, with alternative labels, using a choice experiment. The paper contributes to the literature on credence attributes, by examining Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the local, organic and PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), their differences across experimental conditions (hypothetical and non-hypothetical), and by identifying the effects of personal characteristics, in terms of socio-demographics and level of product involvement on the differences in WTP. We find that the local saffron speciality has an important appeal that could be better reinforced with the PDO rather than the organic labelling, and that consumers show a consistent pattern of preferences across experimental environments. WTP tends to be higher in the hypothetical setting and, in particular, consumers with relatively more knowledge and deeper roots in the territory tend to exhibit a larger WTP premium for local origin and its certification. These results may help producers improve their marketing of agri-food products with a high gastronomic value and differentiation potential, while they warn about an overstatement of WTP for socially desirable characteristics, such as organic labelling, which is also relevant for policymakers.     

A Meta-analysis of the Willingness to Pay for Cultural Services from Grasslands in Europe

We investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) for cultural ecosystem services from grasslands using a meta-analysis based on 32 eligible research papers that provide in total 79 estimates. The average WTP (corrected for purchasing power) across these studies is 38 Euros per person per year. Yet, our analysis reveals that the transfer of these results needs careful evaluation. More specifically, it is essential to frame the monetary valuation exercise in relation to the direction of grassland change. A switch from cropland to grassland reduces WTP by 90 Euros while an increase in less-intensive land-use in mountain regions raises WTP by 53 Euros. We conclude that for an adequate consideration of grasslands in holistic ecosystem services assessments, the direction of grassland change is important.     

Sequential Adoption of Site-Specific Technologies and Its Implications for Nitrogen Productivity: A Double Selectivity Model

This paper analyzes the sequential decision to adopt two site-specific technologies, soil testing and variable rate technology, and the impact of adoption on nitrogen productivity. The results indicate that while farm location was a key variable influencing adoption of soil testing, farm size, human capital, and innovativeness of farmers had a significant impact on adoption of variable rate technology in four Midwestern states. A double selectivity model applied to correct for sample selection bias shows that adoption leads to significant gains in nitrogen productivity for farms with below average soil quality but statistically insignificant gains for farms with above average soil quality.     

新疆棉农对农业面源污染防治的态度和支付意愿研究

农业面源污染问题已经成为我国面临的最严重的环境污染问题之一,农户对农业面源污染防治的态度和支付意愿研究,对于政府制定相关政策措施意义重大。分别采用李克特五点量表、条件价值评估法、多元有序Logistic模型回归等方法对(1)棉农对农业面源污染防治的态度,(2)棉农对农业面源污染防治的支付意愿(WTP),(3)影响棉农支付意愿的社会经济因素进行研究。结果表明:新疆棉农对农业面源污染防治的态度非常积极,但是当与自身利益相冲突时,则趋向于以牺牲环境为代价;新疆每户棉农对农业面源污染防治的支付意愿是113.96元/年,49.64%的被调查者选择的支付区间是[12,60)元/年,累计百分比占70.65%;农户的教育水平和是否参加过农业专业合作组织是新疆农户农业面源污染防治支付意愿的主要影响因素。基于此,得出结论并提出相应的对策建议。     

现代技术下的土地利用总体规划

土地利用总体规划是一项复杂的系统工程，现代技术的发展为土地利用总体规划的实施和管理提供了强有力的技术支撑和手段，本文在阐述遥感技术、全球定位系统、地理信息系统技术，计算机技术、网络技术等现代技术特点的基础上，详细分析了现代技术条件下土地利用规划的特点，指出现代技术是提升土地利用规划对社会经济发展指导作用的重要手段。     

Impact of Purchase Intentions on Full and Partial Bids in BDM Auctions: Willingness‐to‐pay for Organic and Local Blueberries

We conduct a series of Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) auctions to elicit consumers' willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for organic and local blueberries. Participants' intentions to purchase the auction product were collected to determine how purchase intentions for the auction products affect their partial bids (WTP for an additional attribute) as well as full bids (WTP for the auction product). The results suggest, as expected, that full bids from participants with purchase intention for the auction product are significantly higher than those from participants without purchase intention. However, the partial bids, which are inferred from the full bids, for organic and local attributes are consistent across participants with different purchase intentions. Therefore, if the focus of a BDM auction is consumers' WTP for product attributes, purchase intentions may not be an important influence on the value.