Grasscutter Farmers’ Risk Attitude, Management and Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Grasscutter Meat in Upper West Region, Ghana

Abstract

The study aims to evaluate the risk attitude and management of grasscutter farmers in Ghana and assess consumers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for grasscutter meat relying on the Rational Choice Theory and the Resilience Theory. A mixed method approach was employed to conduct a cross-sectional survey using structured questionnaires for grasscutter farmers (N = 52), grasscutter consumers (N = 241) and an interview guide for key informant interviews. Probit, bivariate and multivariate analyses were done using STATA version 14 for quantitative data while NVivo version 12 was used to analyse qualitative data. The results revealed that marketing and production risks were significantly associated with farmers' risk-taking experience (p ≤ 0.05). Gender, age, educational level, the number of dependents, years of rearing experience, farm size, off-farm jobs, income, and income generated from grasscutter sales were significantly associated with farmers’ risk attitude. The study showed that farmers’ major management strategies were calling on experts to check sick grasscutters (M=4.71; SD=0.54), presenting clean feed to grasscutters (M=4.69; SD=0.51), and networking with colleague farmers (M=4.67; SD=0.62). The results further revealed that the resilience variable's ‘purpose’ (p = 0.01), ‘self-reliance’ (p = 0.02) and ‘authenticity’ (p = 0.01) significantly correlated with farmers' resilience risk management. The study also revealed that the physical surroundings, location, availability of grasscutter meat, taste, softness or texture, loyalty, healthiness, and nutrient quality of grasscutter significantly influenced consumers' preference for grasscutter meat over other meat with a p-value = 0.01 for all. Additionally, gender, marital status, religion, education, income and household size were significantly associated with WTP. Results further showed no direct institutional policy support for grasscutter rearing in Ghana. The study concludes that farmers experience variable risks in rearing grasscutters, and intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence consumers’ willingness to pay for grasscutter meat. The study makes recommendations that farmers should be continuously educated on how to minimise the risks associated with grasscutter production.