The Economics of Wheat Diversity and the Role of Indigenous Knowledge for the Conservation of Ethiopian Wheat Diversity: the Case of Meket District, Eastern Amhara Region

FARMERS’ WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR CLIMATE RELATED TRAITS OF WHEAT IN ETHIOPIA Ermias Tesfaye Teferi , Girma Tesfahun Kassie , Mario Enrico Pe , Carlo Fadda Abstract Wheat is the highest important food crop in Ethiopia used to prepare versatile dishes both solely and combined with other cereals, yet is highly susceptible to climate related risks such as frost, drought and diseases such as yellow rust. In line with this, diversified wheat cultivation provides a means to withstand such environmental threats. Willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation and dissemination of wheat genotypes which provides yield stabilizing traits of frost, drought and yellow rust resistance however requires farmers’ preference and their socioeconomic background which constrains the same. This study aimed at estimating the implicit prices farmers are willing to pay for early maturity, frost resistance and yellow rust resistance traits in wheat. A choice experiment method was used to generate 8181 observations from a random sample of 303 smallholder farm households in six representative villages of Meket district in Eastern Amhara in Ethiopia. Taste parameters, heterogeneity and willingness to pay coefficients were estimated using generalized multinomial logit model (G-MNL). The model result showed that grain yield, grain color, frost and rust resistance capacity, early maturity and seed prices to be the most preferred traits of wheat. WTP estimates showed that sample farmers are willing to pay for yellow rust resistance and frost resistance 10 and 9 times greater than the amount they are willing to pay for an increment of one quintal per hectare in grain yield respectively. Similarly, farmers are willing to pay 3 times higher value for harvesting wheat yield 20 days earlier than later as compared to an increase in grain yield by 1 quintal per hectare. Based on the results, we suggest focusing more targeted landraces conservation, wheat variety development and dissemination with regard to drought, yellow rust and frost resistance traits. Key words: Willingness to pay, traits, choice experiment