The results show that highly productive teff varieties are valued the
most by female-headed households and net-sellers of agricultural output
while productive sorghum varieties are valued highly by net-buyers of
agricultural output. This suggests that net-sellers are more interested in
the marketable crop, teff, while sorghum, which is less marketable but
yields on average more harvest per hectare, is preferred by net-buyers.
This is also reflected in their preference for environmental adaptability trait for the two crops, where net-buyers indicated less preference
towards a non adaptable sorghum variety than net-sellers, and the
opposite holds for the same trait in teff. Farmers with no off-farm job
opportunities value environmentally adaptable sorghum and teff
varieties more than what farmers with off-farm job opportunities do.
This is mainly because farm households with no members working offfarm
rely highly on their agricultural produce for food and fiber and are
more likely to be highly risk-averse towards choosing crop varieties that
are less resistant to environmental stress factors such as poor soil and
poor rainfall. There is also a significant difference between male- and
female-headed households in terms of theirWTP for the different traits of
teff and sorghum, where male-headed households show more preference
to environmentally adoptable traits for both teff and sorghum than
female-headed households