Commercialization of Agricultural Research Products –A Case Study Of Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Hybrid Maize
研究了加纳农民对杂交玉米种子的支付意愿及其影响因素，发现农民愿意支付比现有价格高39%的价格，年龄、性别、商业经验和职业类型显著影响支付意愿。
The basic characteristics of farmers that influenced willingness to pay for agricultural research products in Ghana were examined, with special reference to payment for hybrid seed-maize in Ghana. Primary data were purposefully collected from maize farmers who adopted hybrid seed-maize developed by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Crop Research Institute. A logistics regression analysis was used where the willingness to pay higher price was set up as dependent variable and basic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, full-time or part-time occupation, business experience, level of education and income from previous year’s maize yield) as explanatory variables. The results showed that farmers were willing to pay average price of GH¢2.5 per kilogram for the hybrid seed-maize, a price which was 39 % higher than the existing price of GH¢1.8. Age and gender were found to be significant at 10 % level, while business experience and occupation type were significant at 5 %. A major outcome of the study is that research organizations must implement market plans for agricultural research products, services and technologies to ensure sustainable funding of new researches. Regular interaction with farmers and other stakeholders will also elicit the opinions and concerns of the beneficiaries as inputs in designing new products, and thereby contribute.