Abstract:
This study investigates the farm household’s willingness to pay for sustainable soil
fertility management attributes and find the socioeconomic and demographic
factors that influence the soil fertility management in red onion farms in the
Vadamaradchy south west division of the Jaffna district. Applying only chemical
fertilizer excessively in agricultural farms for a longer period leads to soil fertility
degradation and underground water pollution and thus becomes an obstacle to
achieve sustainable development goals. Sustainable soil fertility management
attributes considered in this study are increase in yield, micronutrients, water
holding capacity, soil porosity, beneficial nematodes in the soil and cost of
production. For this study, 170 farm households were randomly selected from
Vadamaradchy south west division and data were collected by interviewing them
using a structured questionnaire. Choice modeling was employed, and a conditional
logit model was developed to estimate willingness to pay for sustainable soil
fertility management attributes. This study shows that farm households are willing
to pay more for a big increase in yield that is a significant benefit to the farmers in
the short term. On average, farm households are willing to pay around 10, 800
rupees per lacham for a big increase in yield by practicing sustainable soil fertility
management. Farm households are willing to pay less for the attributes that provide
significant benefits in the long term. Farm households are willing to pay around 920
rupees and 1900 rupees per lacham for a small increase in micronutrients and a big
increase in porosity respectively. Farmland ownership, farmer education level and
farm extent positively influence the willingness to pay for sustainable soil fertility
management. The findings of this study would be useful to policymakers to
formulate programs that promote sustainable soil fertility management.
