Economic Valuation of Public Meteorological Information Services—A Case Study of Agricultural Producers in Taiwan

Abstract

Most meteorological information services in Taiwan are currently provided by the Central Weather Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications. As agricultural production activities are sensitive to weather and climate conditions, meteorological information services are more important for agricultural decision-makers than those in other sectors. This study uses the contingent valuation method to estimate the economic value of meteorological information services in Taiwan for agricultural producers. We assess the agricultural producers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the meteorological information services, conducting a national face-to-face survey of 400 registered farmers in 20 municipalities in Taiwan in 2013. The results show the adjusted WTP for every agricultural household each year with a 95% confidence interval which ranges from 56.06 US dollars to 90.92 US dollars. The inferred annual economic value of meteorological information services for agricultural producers in Taiwan is between 28.06 million US dollars and 45.51 million US dollars. Moreover, the agricultural producers’ subjective assessment of weather forecast accuracy, farm size, and first bid price significantly affect the amount agricultural producers are willing to pay for meteorological information services.

Development of a Scale to Remove Farmers’ Sustainability Barriers to Meteorological Information in Iran

“…Economic barriers are also among the main obstacles for farmers to use meteorological information. The importance of this recommendation has been approved by other researchers see [33,54]. Lin et al [33] showed that the economic factors such as high cost of the meteorological information have a significant impact on the reluctance of farmers to use the weather prediction services in Taiwan.…”

“…Emphasis on the use of incompatible technologies, lack of credit, social communication, low technical knowledge, habit, and lack of access to meteorological information Vietnam [28] Lack of proper access to information, low accuracy of predictions, and incomprehensible information Africa [29] Lack of access to information, cost of meteorological information, emphasis on old cultivation methods Zimbabwe [30] Lack of interaction between farmers and organizations, lack of access to information, low literacy, and infrastructural barriers Nigeria [31] Lack of access to information, demographic characteristics, cultural/normative problems, and infrastructural and political barriers Kenya [32] Problems with access to appropriate information, demographic characteristics, high cost of access to information, technical problems, and educational problems Taiwan [33] Lack of access to appropriate information and lack of training Myanmar [34,35] Hansen [36] argues that meteorological information must meet farmers' needs and be consistent with their decision-making goals. However, research studies show that a large proportion of farmers do not use meteorological information and weather forecasts in their decisions [35].…”

Economic Value of Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts at Incheon Airport, South Korea

“…Although the KMA increased the TAF price, the production cost match collection ratio was still 12.1% in 2018. The low payback rate might trigger future attempts by the KMA to realize appropriate information Sustainability 2021, 13, 6965 2 of 13 charges. Understanding the private sector is essential to improve the government's policy performance [6].…”

“…Researchers ask closed-or open-ended questions about users' recognition of the existence and accuracy of information, when or how information is utilized, and how much they are willing to pay for improving the information. The data collected from the respondents are proposed policies that can either improve the value of weather information or be utilized as base data for non-market valuation methods, such as the conjoint valuation method (CVM) [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Empirical research is performed to analyze the value of the general public or overall weather information, while the analytical approach considers specific situations wherein costs and losses occur depending on the users' decision-making.…”

Climate Change Impacts and Strategies for Mitigation and Adaptation in Agriculture

“…Lastly, Lin et al [7] estimate the economic value of meteorological information services for Taiwanese farmers from a study over 400 registered farmers in 20 municipalities. They use a contingent valuation method.…”