Information constraint and farmers’ willingness to pay for an irrigation scheduling tool

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has witnessed increasing water scarcity and demand for additional water resources due to climate change. However, lack of information and access to irrigation scheduling decision support tools may limit smallholder farmers’ ability to manage irrigation water efficiently for sustainable crop production. To overcome the complex nature associated with irrigation scheduling, simple low-cost, and user-friendly soil water monitoring tools such as the Wetting Front Detector (WFD) have been developed but the commercial viability of these tools relies on effective demand for the services. This paper assesses how information on the Wetting Front Detector influences farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP). We find firstly that about 57% of the farmers have information about the WFD and 98% reported a WTP higher than zero. Secondly, farmers are highly price sensitive, but most are willing to pay a small amount for the WFD. Thirdly, irrigation information increases farmers’ WTP for WFD by US$6 after controlling for variations existing among irrigation communities. A heterogeneity analysis indicates that WTP is higher for women, youth, and high-income earners than men, adults, and low-income earners. The results imply that increasing initial awareness and providing price subsidies for the new irrigation scheduling tool will increase future adoption.