A Stakeholder Analysis to Assess Preferences and Willingness-to-Pay for Management of Rice Wild Relatives in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Proper management of rice wild relative populations scattered in Sri Lanka in smallquantities are highly warranted as they constitute an increasingly important genetic resourcethat can be used with further research to increase yield of existing hybrid rice varieties. Inlight of this, this paper presents the outcome of a multi-phased research study carried out toassess the preferences of key stakeholders for conservation and utilisation of thosepopulations. The information contained in databases from a series of empirical analysescarried out with key stakeholders, including the: (a) Breeders (n=30); (b) Environmentmanagers (n=65); (c) Government officials (n=40); (d) Rural communities (n=50), and (e)Urban communities (n=300) were used to select the most relevant attributes pertaining tomanagement of rice wild relatives, including: (1) responsibility for conservation; (2)utilisation of WRR sites; (3) the best conservation method, and (4) Marginal Willingness-to-Pay (MWTP). The outcome of analysis, which employed both Choice Experiment andContingent Ranking methods highlights that the willingness-to-pay of rural adjacentcommunity was significantly higher (Rs. 82.73) than that of urban households (Rs. 1.34),breeders (Rs. 10.00), policy planners (Rs. 20.46) and environmental managers (Rs. 7.34). Theoverall MWTP for all stakeholders was estimated to be Rs. 4.83. It also shows that themajority of stakeholders prefer government takes the sole responsibility of conservation ofWRR and the adjacent communities should be allowed to utilise WRR sites under thesupervision of government. All the stakeholders preferred in-situ conservation. The resultsdraw attention on progressive policy measures which encompass participation of all groups ofstakeholders at equal levels; mainstreaming of conservation activities into livelihooddevelopment strategies to address the local needs, and setting up of alternative institutionalarrangements towards proper execution of policies and research programs aimingconservation of rice wild relatives for the future.