African J. Economic and Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, No. 4, 2014 273
Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Farmers’ willingness to pay for rehabilitation of
degraded natural resources under watershed
development in Ethiopia (case study in Dejen
Woreda)
Abdrohman Ebrahim
Department of Economics,
Aksum University,
P.O. Box 1010, Ethiopia
E-mail: abdx2010@gmail.com
Abstract: This study goes to identify factors that affect farmers’ WTP and
estimating the TEV. The Bivarite Probit model is used for the estimation of the
parameters using 185 sample size. The mean WTP from DBDCV is 28.48 ETH
Birr per annum; is higher than the open ended CVM (i.e., 24.8 Birr). The TEV
is estimated to be 105,148.16 ETH Birr. Education, fertiliser expenditure and
land per capita are statistically significant and positively affecting farmers’
WTP. Age is negatively affecting farmers’ WTP due to longer time horizon of
the returns of soil and water conservation works. The policy should consider
farmers’ age, fertiliser expenditure and land per capita for proper design of
watershed development guidelines. Government should encompass adults’
education which has an effect on farmers demand for natural resource
conservation in terms of the higher possibility of accepting new technologies
and family planning (implicit effects on land per capita.).
Keywords: willingness to pay; double bound dichotomous contingent
valuation; watershed development; bivarite probit; total economic value.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ebrahim, A. (2014)
‘Farmers’ willingness to pay for rehabilitation of degraded natural
resources under watershed development in Ethiopia (case study in Dejen
Woreda)’, African J. Economic and Sustainable Development, Vol. 3, No. 4,
pp.273–287.
Biographical notes: Abdrohman Ebrahim is currently a Lecturer of Economics
in Aksum University, Ethiopia. He holds Bachelor of Art degree in Economics
from Wolaita Sodo University in 2009 and Master of Science degree in
Economics (Environmental and Natural Resource Economics) from University
of Gondar, Ethiopia, in 2012.
This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Farmers’
willingness to pay for rehabilitation of degraded natural resources under
watershed development in Ethiopia (case study in Dejen Woreda)’ presented at
the 5th Annual National Research Symposium of the University, Debremarkos
University, Debremarkos, Ethiopia, 5–6 April 2014.