Niche Markets for Agrobiodiversity Conservation: Preference and Scale Heterogeneity Effects on Nepalese Consumers’ WTP for Finger Millet Products

Giacomo Pallante and Adam Drucker ()
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Adam Drucker: Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari 472, Maccarese, Italy.

No 1414, SEEDS Working Papers from SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies

Abstract: Through the implementation of a choice experiment among Nepalese urban consumers, this paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a niche product development as market-oriented instrument for the conservation of endangered crops landraces. We compare establisheddiscrete choice models (conditional logit, random parameter logit and latent class) with the novel generalized multinomial logit model in WTP space to account for the preference and the scale heterogeneity effect on the WTP for the finger millet crop. The estimations are utilized to evaluate the impact that a potential price premium has on local rural farmers’ opportunity costs of cultivating the finger millet. Results confirm that, by controlling for heterogeneity, there are segments of population with a WTP that ensures an efficient increase in FM area cultivated. Further, the success of the niche market can attract public investments on the development and conservation of the entire stock of neglected and underutilized local species thereby safeguarding the related agrobiodiversity ecosystem services.

Keywords: Agricultural biodiversity; niche market; Nepal; choice experiment; scale heterogeneity; WTP. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q18 Q21 Q26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2014-05, Revised 2014-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm and nep-env
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http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1414.pdf First version, 2014 (application/pdf)
http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1414.pdf Revised version, 2014 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:srt:wpaper:1414

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