The current study hypothesizes that improving the desirable attributes of compost to the market through pelletization, fortification, packaging (with labelling), and certification of co-compost could enhance the market demand for co-compost in South Africa.
We used discrete choice experiments to explore the potential adoption of alternative agricultural systems. We analyse the heterogeneity of farmers’ preferences and heuristics of choices using a latent class model, where class can include different heuristics such as attribute non attendance, and elimination by aspect.
We developed a best–worst scaling (BWS) experiment, in which farmers have to declare the “most” and the least “important” goals they use when making decisions. We first derive a ranking of the goals according to the population average, which showed the importance of rice self-sufficiency and transmission of farm capital. We then use a scale-adjusted latent class analysis. We identified four groups of homogenous preferences among farmers.
We used discrete choice experiments to explore the potential adoption or alternative agricultural systems. We analyse the heterogeneity of farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay for different cropping system attributes using a mixed logit model, and we discuss the possible drivers and barriers to the adoption of these more sustainable options.