Conservation agriculture in Ecuador’s highlands: a discrete choice experiment

Conservation agriculture has successfully spread in a number of developing country contexts, resulting in both positive production and environmental impacts. However, there are ongoing questions about the appropriateness of conservation agriculture for small-scale farming as poor farmers tend to be risk averse, typically lack access to credit, and may have planning horizons associated with heavily discounted future benefits. This study investigates farmer attitudes toward how a hypothetical set of conservation agriculture production practices will affect yield, labor use, erosion, and cost in two communities of Bolivar province, Ecuador, through the implementation of a discrete choice experiment. Results show producers are most concerned with future yields, planting labor, and overall costs. While off-farm erosion impacts are of concern, producers only placed small values on these impacts. Results provide support for conservation agriculture outreach to highlight practices that increase long-run production and reduce the time and technical skills associated with planting.