Determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay for pesticide free brinjal and tomato from the city areas of Bangladesh

This study aims to determine the price premium at which consumers are willing to pay (WTP) for pesticide-free brinjal and tomatoes, as well as the factors influencing WTP. The convenience sampling technique was employed to acquire primary data. The data were collected from 150 consumers by applying a Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice (DBDC) contingent valuation technique. The findings showed that the mean WTP value for brinjal was BDT. 7.08/kg and for tomato BDT. 8.97/kg. To compensate for the high nutritional value of safe vegetables, the maximum WTP value for brinjal and tomato was approximately BDT. 12.5/kg and BDT. 16.5/kg, respectively. The results also revealed that age, religion, family size, marital status, educational attainment, and income level were important factors influencing consumers’ WTP. Therefore, to develop a niche market for safe vegetables, government line departments and other stakeholders should pay more attention to consumer attitudes toward pesticide-free vegetable (PFV).