Farmers’ adaptation to climate change: are they willing to pay for the drought tolerant maize seed varieties?

Masters thesis

Use of seeds that can increase yield under drought stress conditions is one among the techniques for farmers‟ adaptation to climate change. This study was conducted with the aim of analyzing farmers‟ willingness to pay (WTP) for the Drought Tolerant Maize (DTM) seed varieties in Mbozi District. Specifically, the study aimed to find out farmers‟ awareness of the characteristics of the DTM seed varieties, to estimate the monetary value that farmers are willing to pay and to assess the socio-economic factors that influence their willingness to pay. The survey was administered to 124 respondents who were obtained by multistage random sampling. Double-bounded dichotomous choice Contingent Valuation Method was used to elicit farmers' WTP information. Descriptive statistics was used to find out farmers‟ awareness of the DTM varieties and binary logistic regression was used in estimating the monetary value that farmers are willing to pay as well as factors influencing the WTP. About 46% of the respondents were aware of the drought tolerant characteristic, 42% were ware that the varieties have high yield while 7.3% were aware that the varieties are resistant to diseases. On the other hand, about 62% were willing to pay for the varieties at an average of 4790 TZS per kg of DTM seed varieties while 38% were not willing to pay. Overall age, income, household size, education, price, farm size, and access to weather forecast information significantly influence the WTP at P<0.005. The study concluded that farmer‟s awareness of DTM characteristics is still low and farmers are not able to pay at 6000 TZS per kilogram which is the initial price for the varieties and this is challenging for farmers to cope with climate change using DTM seed varieties. The study therefore, recommends that deliberate efforts are needed to promote the varieties so as to create more awareness of the characteristics of the varieties among farmers. In addition, price subsidization of the seeds about 20% per kilogram will be needed.

African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)