Urban Farmers Willingness to Pay for Organic Fertilizer in District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The changing paradigm from a linear economy to a bio-based circular economy is key to sustainable urban waste management planning. The goal is to reduce the environmental damages, enhance food supply, increase employment opportunities and broke the vicious circle of poverty. This study performs a focalized analysis and investigates the influencing factors of urban farmers' Willingness to Pay (WTP) for organic fertilizer in District Mardan, Pakistan. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used and data were randomly collected from 384 heads of the household of urban farmers. Data was set in SPSS software version 22.0 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Logit Model. The study revealed that a major proportion (62.5%) of solid waste is generated from domestic sources followed by commercial (26.9%), institutions (5.8%) and industrial (2.9%) sources. While the majority of respondents (81%) were concerned about the unsafe disposal of solid waste and are willing to pay for organic fertilizer alternative to chemical fertilizer for urban agriculture. We also found that socio-economic variables namely education, monthly expenses, and agriculture farm size positively affect farmers' WTP for organic fertilizer. Conversely, households' size and land tenure of the farmer has a negative influence on farmers' WTP. An Integrated Resource Recovery Centre (IRRC) is needed for green waste management to change the current paradigm by transforming the waste into a valuable resource. The application of WTP can be an effective tool for urban planners and policymakers to incorporate the views of urban dwellers for sustainable SWM, food self-sufficiency and financial autonomy of the public utility company.

Farmers’ Willingness to Pay Bio-Activators to Maintain Soil Fertility

“…Additionally, this result also supports previous research that the area of agricultural land affects the rate of innovation adoption (Akiyana et al, 2020). Likewise, the effect of income on bio-activator WTP supports several previous studies (Etim & Benson, 2016;Muhammad et al, 2020;Ningsih et al, 2019). Etim & Benson (2016) stated that the wider the land area, the more it supports the presence of new products.…”

“…Besides, farmers' awareness of using BA to improve soil fertility has not been evenly distributed. Another factor is the limited purchasing power of farmers which is closely related to the economic status of farmers (Muhammad et al, 2020), hence hampering the use of additional production facilities that are not commonly used. In addition, proof of the economic benefits of other farmers who utilize BA earlier is needed before the majority of farmers are willing to adopt BA.…”

“…The increase in farmers' land area shows that the economic capacity is also increasing, consequently, farmers' paying power escalates to pay for environmentally friendly agricultural innovations. Muhammad et al (2020) stated that the ability to pay is closely related to economic status, for farmers, it is indicated by the area of land owned. The result of this study supports previous research (Etim & Benson, 2016) that farm size or land area has a positive effect on WTP organic fertilizer purchases.…”

The study of household willingness to pay for solid waste management at Bekasi and Tangerang cities

“…The socio-economic factor influenced the recycling behaviour and willingness to pay for waste management in South Africa [56. Other research showed the socio-economic factors namely education, monthly expenses, and agriculture farm size positively effect farmers willingness to pay for organic fertilizer [6].…”

“…In solid waste retribution, household paid in the same amount. Based on research of [6] the family size significance influence the willingness to pay with 1% significance level. The large household size associated with increased of possibility of open dumping of solid waste [8].…”