Tropentag, October 6 - 8, 2009 in Hamburg "Biophysical and Socio-economic Frame Conditions for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources"

Willingness to Pay for Breeding and Production Services: Application of a Contingent Valuation to Dairy Goat Breeding Programmes in Kenya

¹Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Animal Sciences, Germany
²Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Horticultural Economics, Germany
³Egerton University, Department of Animal Sciences, Kenya

Abstract

A household survey was conducted with 311 farmers participating in three dairy goat projects in Kenya i.e. the Dairy Goat Association of Kenya (DGAK), Higher Education Links-Egerton University Community Dairy Goats Project (HEL-EUCDGP) and Heifer Project International (HPI), to assess farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for provision of breeding and production services. A Heckman's two-step model was estimated to identify factors affecting the probability that a respondent was willing to pay for provision of services; veterinary services (VS), extension services (ES), marketing services (MS), and performance recording (PR), and the factors affecting the effectiveness of applying these services in dairy goat production systems in Kenya. The second-step, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimates were used to make inferences about factors affecting farmers WTP for these services because the inverse mills ratio (IMR) was not statistically significant. This means that there was no sample selection bias resulting from using the non- zero data (only farmers willing to pay). Farmers were significantly willing to pay more for provision of VS that any other service. Variables such as satisfaction with project activities, system of production, social benefits, flock size, participation in the projects, farm visits, market linkage and information, and experiences on the services significantly (P< 0.05) influenced the WTP. The decision to pay or not was not necessarily affected by those not willing to pay because of the inter-linkage probabilities with the ability to pay. Effective provision of reliable and affordable support services for breed improvement is of much significance to the dairy goat keepers if these programmes are fitting to their social and economic circumstances. Provision of these services also necessitates public investment to develop capacities of service providers and establish markets for these services. Creating a system consisting of public/private provision linked to community-based approaches is therefore vital. Support is necessary for the poor farmers to avoid undesirable practises or the services being restricted only to those who can afford to pay.

Keywords: Breeding and production services, contingent valuation, dairy goat projects, Kenya, willingness to pay

Contact Address: Rawlynce Bett, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Animal Sciences, Philippstr. 13, 10115 Berlin, Germany, e-mail: rawlynceyahoo.com