Investigating the economic behavior of wheat farmers in Kermanshah to reduce the negative environmental impacts of chemical fertilizers (Application of Contingent Valuation Method)

Agriculture as one of the main basis of realizing food security is one of the most important economic sectors of societies. Nowadays, rapid population growth and rising demand for food in the world have increased the pressure on natural resources and dependence on the consumption of chemical inputs in agricultural activities. Conventional agriculture, in which production focus is based on increasing the use of chemical inputs, such as various fertilizers, not only reduces the quality of water, soil and quality of the products produced, but also jeopardizes the health of consumers of agricultural products. The aim of this study was to investigate the economic behavior of wheat farmers in Kermanshah city regarding environmental control programs for chemical fertilizers using Contingent Valuation Method and in the form of willingness to pay farmers. For this purpose, 245 wheat farmers in this city were selected by simple random sampling method and required data were collected through a questionnaire. The content validity of the questionnaire was verified by 20 faculty members and experts and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated as 0.838. According to the results of the research, the average willingness to pay farmers to reduce the negative environmental impacts of chemical fertilizers is estimated at 1585 Rials. To investigate the factors affecting the willingness to pay of farmers, the logit model was used and the results showed that explanatory variables of education and general attitude of farmers about the risks of using chemical fertilizer at the level of 5% had a significant positive effect on the tendency to payments, and age and land ownership did not statistically affect farmers' willingness to pay.