Farmers’ willingness to pay for certified forage seeds and its influencing factors

In China, seed quality certification is in its nascent stages. Understanding farmers’ willingness to pay for certified forage seeds and identifying the influencing factors are essential for promoting seed quality certification in China’s forage seed market. This promotion is crucial for ensuring a continuous supply of high-quality forage seeds, thereby sustaining the provision of quality forage and contributing to food security. In this study, survey data from 462 alfalfa (Medicago sativa) farmers were analyzed using the contingent valuation method to quantitatively assess their willingness to pay (WTP) for certified alfalfa seeds and the influencing factors. The results show that: 1) Farmers are willing to pay an average premium of 30.72% for certified alfalfa seeds. 2) Both planting specialization and market environment recognition significantly and positively affect farmers’ WTP for certified alfalfa seeds. Specifically, for every 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of alfalfa planting area, WTP increased by 0.051 percentage point. Farmers participating in agricultural technology training exhibited a WTP of 16.424 percentage points greater than those of non-participants. Similarly, those knowledgeable about certified seeds showed a WTP of 7.899 percentage points greater than those who are not. In addition, farmers with experience in purchasing inferior seeds demonstrated a WTP of 2.285 percentage points higher than their counterparts. 3) Farmers’ WTP for certified forage seeds is also influenced by factors such as household head’s gender, educational level, health status, and consumption preferences.