Tropentag 2023, September 20 - 22, Berlin, Germany "Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation: trade-offs and synergies."

Farmers’ willingness to pay for improved vegetable extension service: The case in northwestern Ethiopia

¹Bahir Dar University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Ethiopia
²Bahir Dar University, Agricultural Economics, Ethiopia
³Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, HSWT International School, Germany

Abstract

Since 2020, TOMATO project has been carried out by Bahir Dar University in collaboration with Weihenstephan-Triesdof University of Applied Sciences (HSWT). Through research and education, the initiative seeks to spread advanced methods and technology for growing vegetables. This article looked into farmers' willingness to pay for enhanced vegetable extension services. As the current governmental extension service is mocked for huge inefficiencies, building a private, responsive, and demand-driven advisory service can play a vital role in addressing inefficiencies. Therefore, this study examined farmers' willingness to pay for enhanced vegetable extension services. The discrete choice experiments (DCE) used several choice cards that define the proposed extension service by varied attribute and attribute levels. The experiment divided the 393 sample houses into three groups, yielding 7074 observations. The mixed logit model's result revealed that farmers are more likely to pay for extension services that emphasise fruity vegetables over other sorts of vegetables such as root and leafy. Agronomic management skills were also more preferred over input-focused one and more hands-on, practical services over theoretical ones. Farmers are willing to pay 3 fold more money weekly extension visits than the amount they are willing for a monthly based service. Similarly, they are five times more willing to pay for fruity vegetables extension service than the amount they willingly pay for root vegetables. Farmers are ready to spend three times as much on weekly extension visits as they are on a monthly basis. In a similar vein, they are ready to spend five times as much for fruity vegetable extension services as they do for root vegetables. The results suggest that more field-based follow-up and monitoring should be included in private extension service models than should be done in offices.

Keywords: Choice experiment, extension services, willingness to pay

Contact Address: Ermias Tesfaye Teferi, Bahir Dar University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, e-mail: ermiastesfaye61gmail.com