Willingness to pay for Irrigation Advisory Services: Based on Integrated Use Of Earth Observation Data And Information Technologies

The present research by the use of discrete choice model (CM) has analysed the willingness to pay for satellite based of irrigation advisory services in an area of Italy characterized of intensive use of water for irrigation. One original aspect of this study concerns the case study where our work has been implemented. In fact, several studies that used CM have been implemented in agricultural areas and considered water resources management, but we do not fund studies concerning the irrigation advisory service (IAS), specially characterized by a i) highly innovative and technological value offering by the use of Earth Observation (EO) techniques for water saving. The innovative approach of this work was to understand and learn about the different expectations of farmers than consulting services to irrigation in an area of Italy where such services have achieved levels of excellence. The study was carried out in the Campania region in area of Italy covered by IAS called IRRISAT. In 2013, the service has provided support for three Irrigation and Land Reclamation Consortia (ILRC), with 669 farmers and extension of 55.03,57 hectares. Based on these considerations, the specific aims of this work has been i) to analyse the importance of technological innovation in the agricultural water management ii) to define throughout the use of choice experiment (CE) the preferences of the farmers regarding the main characteristic, attributes, of the IRRISAT, iii) to analyse marginal willingness to pay for this service. The main results of the research have confirmed that water is a primary asset for farms and the most important factor for agricultural production. Therefore, there is a clear need for greater use of tools and methodologies to account for water use in irrigation practice. The results have shown the general appreciation for IRRISAT and their willingness to pay for this service.