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Farmers are rational in decision making process with respect to any introduced agricultural technology. Farmers may consider the economic sacrifices in term of additional cost and potential benefit or additional income before they accept and adopt the introduced technology. This study aimed to analyze farmer’s criteria and determine explanatory variables affecting farmer’s decision to accept or to adopt submergence tolerant (Sub-1) rice varieties at flash flood and flood prone affected rice area. The study was conducted in Indramayu District, West Java, and Kayu Agung District, South Sumatra. Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) that derived Willingness to Accept (WTA) approach was exercised to analyze explanatory variables that influence farmers’ willingness to accept introduced rice varieties. The results showed that the economic cost of flooding that damaged rice was about US$7.63 million in Kayu Agung and US$11.25 million in Indramayu in every wet season planting. Farmer’s criteria used in submergence tolerant varietal evaluation varied and location specific in nature. Most of explanatory variables used in the model were significantly influenced farmers’ WTA for submergence tolerant rice varieties such as: (1) availability of seed, (2) submergence tolerant for more than 14 days, (3) high yield, (4) proffer rice taste, (5) households’ income during normal year, (6) area planted during normal year, and (7) age of farm household head. The only indicator that did not significantly influence the farmers’ WTA for the Sub-1 rice varieties was farm household income during the flood year cropping. |
