Households' Willingness to Pay For Soil Conservation Practices

Soil erosion has been one of the major problems undermining agricultural production in Ethiopia. Consequently, efforts are being made by the government to tackle the adverse effect of soil erosion via Food-for-Work and Cash-for-Work programs. However, the existing literature shows that the achievements of such programs are far from the expectations. Does such an experience mean that there is no hope for soil conservation practices in Ethiopia? Absolutely it is doubtful, the problem could have been rather, the campaigns that have been undertaken in Ethiopia for soil conservation practices have failed to consider local peoples¿ willingness to pay for such projects from the very initiation of conservation measures. This motivates that, adequate understanding of the socio economic circumstances is required to determine the household¿s soil conservation demand behavior and the factors that determine their willingness to pay for it. Hence, this book explores the value that the rural households have attached to soil conservation measure using the non marketed valuation technique called Contingent valuation method.