Estimating the Economic Value of Organic Rice

The demand for organic products has increased in the past decade due to concerns about the environmental and health issues of food products. This study provides marketing data on consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic rice in Babol County, Northern Iran. The main objective of this study was to estimate urban consumers' WTP for organic rice and to determine the main factors that consumers look for when purchasing rice. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and double bounded dichotomous (DBD) questionnaire were used to achieve the study goals. The results of the logit model showed that level of education, cancer history, and insurance history had statistically significant effects on WTP. The expected WTP for 1 kg of organic rice was 152467.33 IRR. Based on the average exchange rate of six months of 2018 (33500 IRR) per family in the study tends to the monthly equivalent of US$ 4.55 of their income to buy organic rice allocated. As a result, the total economic value of organic rice was US$ 2254893.072. These results provide important information about market opportunities and policy implementation regarding the production of organic crops.