Abstract
Although foot and mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Ethiopia, use of vaccines to control the disease has been practiced sparingly. This is due to perceived high cost of good quality FMD vaccine, and consequently limited availability of the vaccine in the market. This study was conducted to assess farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a quality FMD vaccine and identify factors that could potentially influence their WTP in Amhara region of Ethiopia. A total of 398 farmers from four districts that represent the mixed crop-livestock and market oriented production systems were enrolled for the study. The WTP was estimated using contingent valuation method with a double-bound dichotomous choice bid design. Interval regression analysis was used to estimate mean WTP and identify factors that influence it. The results showed that the mean WTP of all farmers was Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 58.23 (95% CI: 56.20-60.26)/annual dose. It was ETB 75.23 (95% CI: 72. 97-74.49) for market oriented farmers and ETB 42.6 (95%CI: 41.24-43.96) for mixed crop livestock farmers. Willingness to pay for the vaccine was significantly higher for farmers in market oriented system than in mixed crop livestock system. It was also significantly higher for farmers whose main livelihood is livestock than those whose main livelihood is other than livestock, and for farmers who keep exotic breed cattle and their crosses than those who keep only local cattle breeds. Willingness to pay significantly increased with increase in FMD impact perception and vaccine knowledge scores of farmers. The high mean WTP estimates showed that farmers are enthusiastic about using the FMD vaccine. Market-oriented farmers with higher willingness to pay may be more likely to pay full cost if official FMD vaccination is planned in the country than mixed crop livestock farmers. Animal health extension about livestock diseases impact and vaccines has a potential to increase farmers' uptake of vaccines for disease control.
Highlights
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is arguably the most important disease of livestock worldwide due to costs associated with production losses, trade restriction, and prevention and control [1]
There are two types of production systems practiced in the region: the dominant mixed crop-livestock (MCL) production system, which is a subsistence system that is practiced in the rural areas, Farmers’ willingness to pay for foot and mouth disease vaccine and a market oriented (MO) production system which produces commercial milk and is practiced in urban and periurban areas
The total numbers of different species of livestock kept by respondents were aggregated using tropical livestock units (TLU) and the average TLU holding was about six TLUs being a little bit higher for MCL than MO respondents
Summary
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is arguably the most important disease of livestock worldwide due to costs associated with production losses, trade restriction, and prevention and control [1]. Regular mass vaccination is often used to control the disease in endemic developing countries. Foot and mouth disease vaccines are often made to cover multiple serotypes and strains and these negatively affect the potency and cost of the vaccines as compared to monovalent vaccines [7].
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