Farm Women's willingness to pay for bio fortified rice variety-a micro level study.

Abstract

Milled rice, a good source of energy, is a poor source of micronutrients. Therefore, where rice is a staple food, making it more nutritious through fortification with essential vitamins and minerals is being considered as a proven and cost-effective intervention for making it more nutritious. The study used the contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate the farm women’s willingness to pay (WTP) for DRR Dhan 45 the bio-fortified high zinc rice variety developed by ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research. Correlation analysis was carried out to ascertain the significant relationships of WTP with relevant variables. The farm women were willing to pay an average premium of about 26% over the prevailing price of non bio-fortified rice. The results of correlation analysis revealed that while education was significantly and positively related to WTP, age was negatively related. Thus, young and educated farm women could be the potential target group for creating awareness and promotion of bio-fortified rice varieties to address the micronutrient deficiencies among children.