Assessment of farmers' willingness to pay for foot and mouth disease vaccines using the contingent valuation method in Central Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Foot and mouth disease is among the contagious transboundary and economically devastating viral diseases of cloven-hoofed animals. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on 396 randomly selected livestock-owning farmers from three districts in central Ethiopia to estimate the willingness to pay for foot and mouth disease vaccines using a contingent valuation method based on dichotomous choice bids with double bounds. The study assessed the mean willingness to pay through interval regression and identified the influencing factors. Results The study revealed that the farmer's mean willingness to pay for a hypothetical foot and mouth disease vaccine was 37.5 Ethiopian Birr (95% confidence interval [CI]: 34.5 40.58) in all data, while it was 23.84 (95% CI: 21.47–26.28) in the mixed farming system and 64.87 Ethiopian Birr (95% CI: 58.68 71.15) in the market-oriented farming system. We identified main livelihood, management system, breed, keeping animals for profit, and foot and mouth disease impact perception score as significant variables (p ≤ 0.05) that determine the farmers' willingness to pay for the foot and mouth disease vaccine. Conclusion Farmers demonstrated a high computed willingness to pay, which can be considered an advantage in Ethiopia's foot and mouth disease vaccination program. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure sufficient vaccine supply services to meet the high demand revealed.