Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification

Zinc deficiency is a severe public health problem in Bangladesh. We examine the effects of nutritional information on rural consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ways to increase zinc intake through rice, the main staple crop–low-milling that gives rice grains a distinctive light brown color (...

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Autores principales: Herrington, Caitlin L., Maredia, Mywish K., Ortega, David L., Taleon, Victor, Birol, Ekin, Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf, Rahaman, Md Shajedur
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127776
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author Herrington, Caitlin L.
Maredia, Mywish K.
Ortega, David L.
Taleon, Victor
Birol, Ekin
Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf
Rahaman, Md Shajedur
author_browse Birol, Ekin
Herrington, Caitlin L.
Maredia, Mywish K.
Ortega, David L.
Rahaman, Md Shajedur
Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf
Taleon, Victor
author_facet Herrington, Caitlin L.
Maredia, Mywish K.
Ortega, David L.
Taleon, Victor
Birol, Ekin
Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf
Rahaman, Md Shajedur
author_sort Herrington, Caitlin L.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Zinc deficiency is a severe public health problem in Bangladesh. We examine the effects of nutritional information on rural consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ways to increase zinc intake through rice, the main staple crop–low-milling that gives rice grains a distinctive light brown color (a visible trait) and sets it apart from the culturally preferred high-milled white rice grain and biofortification of rice with increased zinc content (an invisible trait), which is also low-milled to retain maximum zinc content. Results of our economic experiments suggest that with nutritional information, consumers are willing to pay a premium of 4.6% for zinc biofortified rice compared to non-biofortified rice, when milled at the same level. However, results confirm the strong preference for high-milled rice by Bangladeshi consumers who discounted low-milled rice by 8%–10% even after receiving information on the nutritional benefits of biofortified or low-milled rice. We find that consumers’ WTP for the two high-zinc-low-milled rice types (biofortified and non-biofortified) is positively correlated with being a female, more educated, belonging to households engaged in non-farm activities and with children under 5 years of age. Results point to the importance of nutritional awareness campaigns for increasing zinc biofortified and low-milled rice consumption and guiding the targeting strategy for such campaigns. Given the consumer preference for high-milled rice, this study also points to the need for exploring the rice fortification strategy to address the challenge of malnutrition.
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spelling CGSpace1277762025-10-26T12:56:11Z Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification Herrington, Caitlin L. Maredia, Mywish K. Ortega, David L. Taleon, Victor Birol, Ekin Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf Rahaman, Md Shajedur biofortification consumer behaviour trace element deficiencies milling rice willingness to pay zinc Zinc deficiency is a severe public health problem in Bangladesh. We examine the effects of nutritional information on rural consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ways to increase zinc intake through rice, the main staple crop–low-milling that gives rice grains a distinctive light brown color (a visible trait) and sets it apart from the culturally preferred high-milled white rice grain and biofortification of rice with increased zinc content (an invisible trait), which is also low-milled to retain maximum zinc content. Results of our economic experiments suggest that with nutritional information, consumers are willing to pay a premium of 4.6% for zinc biofortified rice compared to non-biofortified rice, when milled at the same level. However, results confirm the strong preference for high-milled rice by Bangladeshi consumers who discounted low-milled rice by 8%–10% even after receiving information on the nutritional benefits of biofortified or low-milled rice. We find that consumers’ WTP for the two high-zinc-low-milled rice types (biofortified and non-biofortified) is positively correlated with being a female, more educated, belonging to households engaged in non-farm activities and with children under 5 years of age. Results point to the importance of nutritional awareness campaigns for increasing zinc biofortified and low-milled rice consumption and guiding the targeting strategy for such campaigns. Given the consumer preference for high-milled rice, this study also points to the need for exploring the rice fortification strategy to address the challenge of malnutrition. 2023-01 2023-01-22T18:18:54Z 2023-01-22T18:18:54Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127776 en https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.11379 Open Access Wiley Herrington, Caitlin L.; Maredia, Mywish K.; Ortega, David L.; Taleon, Victor; Birol, Ekin; Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf; and Rahaman, Md Shajedur. 2022. Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification. Agricultural Economics 54(1) 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12739
spellingShingle biofortification
consumer behaviour
trace element deficiencies
milling
rice
willingness to pay
zinc
Herrington, Caitlin L.
Maredia, Mywish K.
Ortega, David L.
Taleon, Victor
Birol, Ekin
Sarkar, Md Abdur Rouf
Rahaman, Md Shajedur
Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title_full Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title_fullStr Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title_full_unstemmed Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title_short Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification
title_sort rural bangladeshi consumers un willingness to pay for low milled rice implications for zinc biofortification
topic biofortification
consumer behaviour
trace element deficiencies
milling
rice
willingness to pay
zinc
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127776
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