Farmers’ Preference and Willingness to Pay for Climate-Smart Rice Varieties in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract This paper examined farmers’ preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for climate-smart rice varieties in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. A total of 80 respondents were purposely selected from 5 major rice growing communities in the study area. Questionnaire was the main tool for data collection. Also, data on climate elements (such as temperature and rainfall volume) for a period of 35 years (1986–2020) were obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). Multinomial logit model, ordinary least square (OLS) regression model, descriptive statistics and trend analysis were employed for data analysis. The results show that FARO 44 was preferred by 95% of the farmers for grain size, 100% of farmers preferred it for days to maturity, 76.2% preferred it for strength of grain to withstand breakage during processing, 98.75% preferred it for potential yield (tons) and plant height (cm) and 87.5% preferred it for its ecological adaptation. Farmers’ preference and willingness to pay for climate-smart rice varieties were influenced by attributes of these varieties and knowledge of such technologies, primary occupation, farm size, extension visits and access to media information and farm size. This study recommends that government should provide extension agents with the adequate resources to enable them carry out their duties more effectively.