Modelling farmer and consumer preferences for cleaner food production

Abstract

Agriculture in Pakistan is currently unsustainable due to intensive farming practices – the concentrated use of agricultural inputs, including water and agrochemicals. The widespread use of intensive farming has dire effects on both human health and the natural environment. As such the antidote to these problems would be the adoption of sustainable agriculture. The present research proposes to reduce the use of agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilisers, and adopt efficient irrigation technology in tomato cultivation in district Khushab Pakistan. Discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach is deployed to study farmer and consumer preferences and their valuation of the proposed changes to facilitate the adoption of sustainable agriculture in tomato cultivation. Questionnaire data is used to investigate farmer and consumer perceptions and understanding of existing farming practices and proposed changes.
Findings reveal that majority farmers and consumers are aware of the unfavourable health and environmental impacts of existing farming practices used in tomato cultivation. Empirical analysis of questionnaire data show that farmers who own their farmland and those who have received the training to apply agrochemicals are more likely to have a positive perception of the proposed changes. Likewise, consumers who have more awareness and information about different farming practices and a greater health consciousness are more keen to see the changes in existing farming practices. DCE analysis shows that farmers prefer the reduction in the use of pesticide and fertiliser use, but place a negative value on the adoption of drip irrigation. On the other hand, consumers not only prefer the proposed changes, but their willingness to pay (WTP) to implement the proposed changes is higher than the farmers’ willingness to accept (WTA). This implies that the proposed changes in current farming practices used for tomato cultivation are economically viable, and hence that market-based approaches to control agricultural pollution may be more effective than regulations in Pakistan.