Understanding Filipino Rice Farmer Preference Heterogeneity for Varietal Trait Improvements: A Latent Class Analysis

Using an experimental methodology based on investment games, we examine whether smallholder rice farmers from Nueva Ecija, Philippines have heterogeneous preferences for improvements in 10 rice varietal traits. We use a latent class cluster approach to identify different segments of rice producing households and their distinct preferences for trait improvements. These clusters were characterised post hoc using household, farm, and marketing characteristics. On average, farmers invested the most in rice varietal trait improvements that offered opportunities to reduce losses caused by lodging, insects and diseases. We found four classes of farmers with distinct preferences for improvements in variety traits. The clusters were significantly different in terms of household and farm characteristics. These findings can guide breeding research in the development of varieties that have the traits farmers identified for improvement, and that will address the unique needs of distinct farmer segments.     

Attribute Specific Impacts of Stated Non‐Attendance in Choice Experiments

In this paper, we generalise existing approaches to the treatment of stated attribute non‐attendance data in discrete choice experiments by allowing attribute specific impacts. We implement this approach by employing an extended hierarchical Bayes logit model specification. To illustrate this approach, we consider data collected to examine Indian consumers’ preferences for traditional aromatic rice varieties. Our results regarding stated attribute non‐attendance reveal that, our new approach shrinks marginal utilities of non‐attenders substantially compared to stated attenders, with significant differences in the shrinkage between some of the attributes. In addition, our results reveal the way in which non‐attendance of attributes interact with each other and the impact that this has on the distribution of willingness to pay estimates.     

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.     

Are small‐scale rice farmers in eastern India really inefficient? Examining the effects of microtopography on technical efficiency estimates

The article analyzes how controlling for differences in land types (defined by position on a low‐scale toposequence) affects estimates of farm technical efficiency for rice farms in eastern India. Contrasting previous research, we find that farms are considerably more technically efficient when efficiency estimates are carried out at the plot level and control for plot characteristics rather than at the farm level without such controls. Estimates show farms cultivating modern varieties are technically efficient and plots planted with traditional varieties on less productive lands (upland and midupland) operate close to the production frontier. Significant technical inefficiency is found on more productive lands (medium and lowland plots) planted with traditional rice varieties. The finding that these smallholder rain‐fed rice farms are efficient cultivators on some plots contrasts with previous findings of farm‐level inefficiency (i.e., rejects overarching explanations linked to farm operator ignorance or lack of motivation) and suggests more complex explanations are required to address the inefficiency that is present.     

水稻规模种植户持续种植意愿影响因素研究

[目的]水稻规模种植户在稳定水稻种植面积中起到关键性的作用,如何扶持和稳定规模种植户的持续种植粮食具有十分重要的战略意义。[方法]文章利用浙江省145户水稻规模种植户的调研数据,采用二元Logistic模型对水稻规模种植户的持续种植意愿进行了实证分析。[结果]单位面积平均土地租金和粮食生产总投入对持续种植意愿呈反向影响,粮食销售收入和田地质量提升的投入对持续种植意愿呈正向影响。高额的土地租金和不断增长的粮食生产投入,使得粮食生产收益不断下降,特别是对于具有一定规模的种植户而言,不得不选择消极的种植意愿;与此同时,较高的销售收入能带来较高的生产收益,使得规模种植户更愿意继续种植,而田地质量提升能带来较高的产出率,规模种植户对持续种植也将更有信心。[结论]据此提出降低水稻种植成本、稳定粮农正常收益、规范土地市场、引导农户提高田地投入等政策建议来稳定和激励水稻规模种植户持续种植,保障国家粮食安全。     

Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Locally Produced Ground Beef: A Case Study of the Rural Northern Great Plains

This study examined consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for locally produced ground beef with an emphasis on the impacts of product attributes and the heterogeneity caused by rural consumers’ characteristics. We applied the choice-based conjoint technique to analyze data collected from a typical rural town in the Northern Great Plains. The results indicate that location associated product brand differences and leanness were dominant components affecting consumers’ WTP. The premium of locally produced ground beef for consumers with a close tie to local production is $0.48/lb. Cut difference, grass-fed, and organic were trivial factors in determining consumers’ WTP.     

基于MOA理论消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿驱动路径分析*——以大米为例

[目的]随着我国人民生活水平的提高,绿色农产品愈发得到消费者的青睐。文章旨在探析消费者绿色农产品意愿溢价水平及其溢价支付意愿的驱动路径,以期为绿色农产品产业的发展提供相应政策启示。[方法]基于MOA理论分析框架,利用结构方程模型和消费者调查数据,该文以主粮大米为例展开分析。[结果]以普通大米5元/kg为基准价格,消费者绿色大米平均意愿溢价水平为125.7%,意愿溢价水平从高到低排序依次是东部地区(145.2%)、中部地区(140.09%)、西部地区(91.82%)。[结论](1)利己动机、利他动机、创新性能力、信息获取能力能够直接作用于消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿,而消费机会通过利己动机、利他动机和信息获取能力间接作用于溢价支付意愿;(2)基于多群组结构方程,研究发现个人可支配收入和文化程度能够调节消费者创新性能力、信息获取能力对消费者绿色农产品溢价支付意愿影响;(3)消费者创新性能力和信息获取能力对溢价支付意愿的影响存在地域差异性。     

Consumers' willingness to pay for food quality - The case of eggs

The aim of this paper is to introduce an approach to estimating the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for food quality and safety using data on actual consumer purchases. Marginal WTP for specific food product varieties can be derived from estimated demand functions by inverting the relations, thereby expressing the prices consumers are willing to pay as functions of quantity demanded. The task addressed in the paper is isolation of the WTP for quality attributes embedded in the varieties. Two models based on the AIDS-specification are proposed and discussed. To illustrate the applicability of the models, the case of five varieties of eggs is presented. It is found that Danish consumers are willing to pay a relatively high premium for improved animal welfare and organic production methods and somewhat less for food safety.     

Quantifying the Contribution of Plant Breeders'Rights and Transgenic Varieties to Canola Yields: Evidence from Manitoba

Canola yield functions that account for plant breeders'rights, changes in technology, measures of varietal diversity and environmental conditions are estimated for the province of Manitoba for the period 1995–2001. Various measures are employed to estimate the effect of plant breeders'rights (PBR) on canola yields. Panel data models, which allow for differences in behavior over cross-sectional units at the same point in time as well as differences in behavior over time for a given cross-sectional unit, are used for the analysis. The performance of canola yield response functions are superior with random effects models. The adoption of transgenic varieties and varieties qualifying for PBR are positively associated with increasing yields. The policy implication of this study is that a greater commitment of public funds to fundamental research may be necessary to complement the applied research that private companies are undertaking in producing finished varieties.     

中国马铃薯农户种植意愿及其空间差异

目的 探究不同区域农户马铃薯种植意愿的影响因素及其差别,能够提高农户种植马铃薯的能动性与积极性,为马铃薯主粮化进程提供决策参考。方法 文章基于1 261个农户样本调研,运用条件价值评估法和多元回归模型,从农户个体禀赋、生产经营、社会资源、市场认知、政策需求五个方面对农户支付与受偿意愿进行分析,在此基础上探讨影响马铃薯种植意愿的主要因素,再比较分析典型产区马铃薯种植影响因素。结果 马铃薯农户种植受偿意愿均值为4 069.5元/hm²,支付意愿均值为724.5元/hm²;马铃薯农户种植意愿受各项成本收益、农户受教育程度、家庭收入、社会资源、市场信息认知及政府补贴的影响较大;北方种植因素受规模和利润率的主导,南方更多受到家庭生产经营特征的综合影响。结论 个体决策影响群体决策,群体决策影响整体马铃薯种植空间格局变化。区域内农户采取基于种植约束、成本收益和政策支持的种植方案选择,通过有限区域范围的无限趋同决策,产生不同程度的种植集聚、产业集聚和市场集聚,进而影响马铃薯种植空间格局变化。     

Decomposing Local: A Conjoint Analysis of Locally Produced Foods

Increasingly, foods are marketed as "locally grown." We use stated preference data from a choice-based conjoint instrument to address two issues surrounding consumer demand for locally produced goods: (1) what is the geographical extent of "local," and (2) is the value consumers place on "local" production distinct from other factors that are often confounded with locally produced foods such as farm size and product freshness? We find our subjects place similar value on products produced "in state" and "nearby" and that consumers' willingness to pay for local production is independent from values associated with product freshness and farm size.     

International and Institutional R&D Spillovers: Attribution of Benefits among Sources for Brazil's New Crop Varieties

Reported rates of return to agricultural R&D are generally high, but they are likely to be biased, particularly because of attribution problems—mismatching research benefits with costs. The importance of attribution biases is illustrated here with new evidence for Brazil. During 1981–2003, varietal improvements in upland rice, edible beans, and soybeans yielded benefits of $14.8 billion in present value (1999 prices) terms. Attributing all of the benefits to Embrapa, a public research corporation accounting for more than half of Brazil's agricultural R&D spending, the benefit-cost ratio would be 78:1. Under alternative attribution rules, the ratio drops to 16:1.     

Recreational demand for farm commonage in Ireland: A contingent valuation assessment

This paper measures willingness to pay (WTP) for public access and trail improvements on commonage farmland for recreational walking in upland and lowland areas of Connemara region in the West of Ireland using the contingent valuation method (CVM). Common to both upland and lowland commonage sites was the much higher ranking for infrastructural features by those WTP for scenario implementation compared to those preferring the status quo. Results for those expressing a positive WTP reveal a median willingness to pay (MWTP) for formal access with improved trail infrastructure of €12.22 for the lowlands compared with €9.08 for the uplands.     

Assisting decision-making in Queensland barley production through chance constrained programming

A chance constrained programming model is developed to assist Queensland barley growers make varietal and agronomic decisions in the face of changing product demands and volatile production conditions. Unsuitable or overlooked in many risk programming applications, the chance constrained programming approach nonetheless aptly captures the single-stage decision problem faced by barley growers of whether to plant lower-yielding but potentially higher-priced malting varieties, given a particular expectation of meeting malting grade standards. Different expectations greatly affect the optimal mix of malting and feed barley activities. The analysis highlights the suitability of chance constrained programming to this specific class of farm decision problem.     

Buyers’ perceptions of importance and willingness‐to‐pay for certain attributes of source and production verified bred heifers

This research reports buyers’ perceptions of and willingness‐to‐pay for replacement heifers produced through a rigorous, third‐party verified production protocol. Survey respondents attended and registered to purchase heifers at sanctioned Missouri Show‐Me‐Select Replacement Heifer Program^® sales between 1997 and 2002. Responses indicate that pen uniformity, artificially inseminated to calving ease bull, synchronized calving, and heifer size are perceived as important, and their willingness‐to‐pay for these characteristics is economically significant. Though prior research suggests willingness‐to‐pay estimates particularly for inexperienced consumers may be biased, we find little difference between inexperienced and experienced buyers and also little difference from hedonic estimates of heifer characteristics’ value.     

Using Geographically Weighted Choice Models to Account for the Spatial Heterogeneity of Preferences

In this paper, we investigate the use of geographically weighted choice models for modelling spatially clustered preferences. We argue that this is a useful way of generating highly‐detailed spatial maps of willingness to pay for environmental conservation, given the costs of collecting data. The data used in this study come from a discrete choice experiment survey of public preferences for the implementation of a new national forest management and protection programme in Poland. We combine these with high‐resolution spatial data related to local forest characteristics. Using locally estimated discrete choice models we obtain location‐specific estimates of willingness to pay (WTP). Variation in these estimates is explained by characteristics of the forests close to where respondents live. These results are compared with those obtained from a more typical, two stage procedure which uses Bayesian posterior means of the mixed logit model random parameters to calculate location‐specific estimates of WTP. We find that there are indeed strong spatial patterns to the benefits of changes to the management to national forests. People living in areas with more species‐rich forests and those living nearer bigger areas of mixed forests have significantly different WTP values than those living in other locations. This kind of information potentially enables a better distributional analysis of the gains and losses from changes to natural resource management, and better targeting of investments in forest quality.     

Why did farmers stop cultivating NERICA upland rice varieties in central Benin?

New Rice for Africa (NERICA) was developed by the Africa Rice Center by crossing high-yielding Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.) with locally adapted African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.). Community-based seed production of NERICA varieties was introduced in a village in central Benin in 2006 through seed dissemination projects. It was reported that high-adoption rates of these varieties were mainly due to high demand by development projects for seed dissemination, and to incentives (i.e. selling the rice seed at a higher than local market price to a local extension service) for farmers to grow NERICA varieties. A follow-up survey was undertaken after the seed dissemination projects ended to examine the change in the cultivation of NERICA varieties. About half of the farmers had ceased cultivation of NERICA varieties in 2011. The reasons for abandonment were the combined effects of reduced seed demand and low yields, which were attributed to a lack of access to credit and training on NERICA cultivation practices. The majority of the farmers did not abandon rice cultivation, but grew other high-yielding varieties, including one aromatic variety for which there was market demand. We conclude that to avoid immediate reductions in the adoption of new varieties after projects are terminated and to enhance agricultural sustainability, the varieties should be introduced in conjunction with appropriate group training on their cultivation, and the project should target farmers who do not have off-farm businesses. Furthermore, access to credit should also be enhanced, and the marketability of the varieties should be assessed.     

Consumer sorting and hedonic valuation of wine attributes: exploiting data from a field experiment

This article uses a novel experimental approach to measure consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for wine attributes. We invited customers of a local supermarket who had selected a bottle of wine to purchase to participate in a valuation experiment. Integrating their original wine choice into the experiment, each participant evaluated six alternative wines, generating a rich set of data on willingness to pay and consumer characteristics. The data from the experiment allow us to compare standard shelf price‐based wine attribute valuation estimates with estimates using WTP data and an increasing amount of information about individual consumers. The full model employs individual fixed effects to estimate WTP parameters without bias from consumer sorting or supply side influences. Our WTP estimates for wine attributes differ markedly from previous attribute value estimates. Consumers in our sample display clear and stable preferences for wine varieties, but less clear preferences for appellations. Our results suggest caution is needed in using market prices to estimate parameters of the consumer valuation function for product attributes.     

Yield and income effects of rice varieties with tolerance of multiple abiotic stresses: the case of green super rice (GSR) and flooding in the Philippines

With the increasing frequency of extreme climatic events, the new challenge is to develop rice varieties that are tolerant of drought, water submergence, and salinity. There are now new high‐yielding green super rice (GSR) cultivars developed at the International Rice Research Institute with increased tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses. But a clear understanding of the economic benefits of these varieties under farmers’ production environments is not yet fully understood. In this article, we assess the yield and income effects of GSR rice varieties using a two‐year panel data from one province. We use matched samples from a propensity score matching method and a fixed‐effects model within a difference‐in‐difference (DID) framework to estimate the yield effects. The income effects were evaluated using the parameter estimates from the yield/production function model. The results of the ordinary least squares and DID fixed‐effects regressions reveal significant and positive effects of GSR varieties on yield. The most important finding is that the benefits from these varieties are strongly felt when there is flooding. This evidence was not as robust when matched samples were used. However, it is clear that the yield benefits from GSR varieties could improve rice food security and help alleviate poverty in the country.     

PERSPECTIVES ON AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH FOR SMALL COUNTRIES

The Rockefeller Foundation currently provides about 7.0 million annually for a comprehensive programme of rice biotechnology research designed to meet the needs of the developing world. Early in the programme deliberate decisions were made by the Foundation to support all the components of research required to make new varieties ready for testing, from determining what plant traits should receive priority to strategic technique development through the incorporation of traits into varieties. Agricultural biotechnology research is risky, high-cost relative to other agricultural research, has a long time lag to payoff, and requires efficiently functioning ‘conventional’ research to be effective. Most small developing countries do not have the conditions necessary to make productive investments in agricultural biotechnology, except possibly for sharply defined tissue-culture activities. A wise use of funds would be to concentrate on producing enough indigenous talent to give knowledgeable advice to policy makers on the costs, time lags and possible benefits of agricultural biotechnology.