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Abstract
This paper evaluates farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the vegetative propagated
orange fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) planting material that is many times considered as a
public good. Famers’ WTP for OFSP vines was elicited by conducting a real choice
experiment (RCE) among 121 small sweetpotato growers in central Mozambique with
prior experience growing OFSP but with no participation in OFSP vine distributions in
the previous 3 years of the experiment. Results reveals a higher farmers’ willingness to
pay for OFSP varieties (US$0.07-0.12) compared to the non-orange planting material
(US$ 0.03) and compared to the traditional subsidized price of clean sweetpotato vines
(US$ 0.06) used in Mozambique. These results may encourage formation of a network of
private vine multipliers that would supply permanently OFSP planting material in wider
areas.