Combining stated and revealed preference methods: A dairy adoption case study of western Kenya

Abstract

The study was carried out in seven districts in western Kenya to determine factors influencing the adoption of dairy technologies. This paper looks at the complementarity in the analysis derived from the revealed preference (RP), and stated preference (SP) methods in the determination of these factors. The binary choice probit model was used for the RP method, while the ordered probit model (OPM) was used for conjoint analysis, an SP method. The SP methods are based on hypothetical choice behaviour and were used to place a value to each of the cow attributes (milk yield, disease resistance, feed requirement and price). Unlike the SP methods that have been criticized because actual choice is not observed, the RP methods, common in most adoption studies, are based on actual choices, hence the complementarity. The PPE, ethnicity, cultural values, education, income and extension influenced adoption. In some households, other reasons other than the economic reasons of rearing dairy influenced adoption, thus unfolding a unique adoption process. The willingness to pay (WTP) showed that externalities in the form of lack of information, ethnicity and farmer priorities reduced efficiency in resource use for dairy. The SP method is good at targeting interventions by explaining the households’ observed behaviour, thus it gives feedback signals on efficiency of resource use and apportions the stakeholders’ effort in dairy adoption. The interventions are addressed in the perspective of the resources available.