Taiwanese Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Broiler Welfare Improvement

ABSTRACT: In this study, we explored the willingness to pay (WTP) for broilers raised under the high welfare system. The interval data model and the ordered probit model were used to investigate the factors that affect consumers’ WTP for broiler meat produced by farm animal welfare (FAW), practice. Our results from both methods suggest that socioeconomic characteristics such as education level, income level, gender, and age significantly affect consumers’ WTP. The food safety concerns of consumers and perceived consumer effectiveness also influence consumers’ WTP. Using the interval data method, we computed the mean and median of the estimated WTP from our survey sample. The mean was 46.7745 New Taiwanese dollar per kilogram. The marginal effects of the different variables are also presented. SIMPLE SUMMARY: In Taiwan, the development of farm animal welfare practice is in its beginning stage. Consumers’ attitude toward farm animal welfare products is important for the development of this practice. The main goal of this research is to explore the consumers’ willingness to pay for broilers’ welfare improvement and to identify the factors that affect this willingness to pay. The results of this study showed that consumers’ food safety concerns combined with farm animal welfare can influence consumers’ willingness to pay. The more consumers believed that they could make a difference in the improvement of animal welfare, the more they were willing to pay. Consumers who felt that farm animal welfare was the producers’ responsibility were less willing to pay. The results of this study can be used to evaluate whether or not farm animal welfare practice is market viable. Moreover, the results can be used to develop marketing strategies for high welfare broilers.