Farmers’ willingness to pay for mobile phone-based agricultural extension service in northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The rapid spread of mobile phones holds the promise of transforming traditional extension into a digital extension service. To develop such a system, understanding the farmers’ service demand is a prerequisite issue. Identifying farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for mobile-based extension service has paramount importance to service system design and financial sustainability. The objective of this study was to evaluate farmers’ willingness to pay for agricultural extension services by using the Contingent Valuation method (CVM). A multistage sampling technique was used to select 280 households. The Tobit model was used to identify factors affecting farmers’ willingness to pay for agricultural extension service. Results reveal that 81.07 percent of the respondents are generally willing to pay for mobile phone-based extension services. On average, respondents were willing to pay for the service at 101.38 ETB annually. The results of the Tobit model indicate that the educational status of farmers' ownership of the mobile phone, information-seeking behavior of farmers, distance from home to the nearest town and access to electric power influence the willingness to pay for the service. The outcomes of the research would support policymakers to implement better design for the dissemination of mobile phone-based agricultural information to transform marginalized farmers in Ethiopia. To enhance willingness to pay, there should be a training package to farmers about mobile-based extension service through adult education and public media.