Farmers Willingness To Pay For Coffee Wilt Disease Free Seedlings;Empirical Study Of Masaka And Buikwe District In Central Uganda

Uganda is among the largest producing and exporting countries of coffee products in the world.Coffee production has heavily contributed to both domestic and foreign earnings in the country.Despite this however,coffee wilt disease is threatening this sub sector.Many studies on coffee in Uganda recognize the scarcity of coffee wilt disease(CWD)free seedlings as one of the key factors that affect coffee production and quality.The quality coffee planting material is mainly compromised by accumulation of the causal organism leading to development of devastating coffee bacterial wilt disease.There a number of interventions in Uganda for production and multiplication of disease free coffee seedlings including use of coffee exporting companies like Kyagalanyi to assist the coffee farmers in accessing coffee wilt disease free planting materials.This is aimed at timely and adequate supply of good quality coffee planting materials.Linked to that,positive attitude towards locally manufactured coffee is needed for local manufacturers to stand the taste of time of this intense competition from foreign coffee.For the success and sustainability of this initiative through private sector investment shall highly depend on farmers' willingness to pay for the diseases free coffee seedling.The study was carried out in Buikwe and Masaka that were prone to coffee bacterial wilt(CWD)with an aim of exploring farmers' willingness to pay(WTP)for bacterial wilt free coffee seedlings.The specific objectives were: i)to find out whether consumer perception on Robusta coffee quality has an influence on its marketability ii)determine the factors that affect farmers' willingness to pay for bacterial free coffee seedlings,ii)characterizing coffee farmers in central Uganda,iv)estimating the price farmers are willing to pay for bacterial free coffee seedlings.Data was randomly collected from a sample of 300 coffee farmer's using semi structured questionnaires.Contingent evaluation method was used to estimate willingness to pay,Chi-square test,t-test and Tobit model were used to evaluate factors affecting farmers' willingness to pay for bacterial free coffee seedlings.Farmers who were willing to pay prices above the production costs for coffee wilt diseases free seedlings were between the ages of 35 to 45 and had average land size of 1.9 hectares.The mean price for coffee seedlings was estimated at UGX 1,600 per seedling.Distance from the supply,cost of the seedling,size of the land that one owns,market access and education level of the farmer significantly influenced farmers' willingness to pay.Commercial farmers should be given special attention in the bid for these coffee production centers to break even using several approaches such as market days,agro input dealers.Multiplication centers should be decentralized and brought near the farmers;extension and advisory services are needed to educate farmers on identification and control of the coffee wilt diseases on their farms.