The Analysis of the WTP for Sustainable Livestock Production in Korea

Sustainable livestock production has been on the focus as an alternative to conventional factory livestock. This study analyzed society’s demand for sustainable livestock production and its policy implications. The enhancement in breeding conditions, the supply of safe livestock products, and decreases in negative environmental effects were defined as the three attributes of sustainable livestock production. The choice experiment was applied to evaluate the demand for sustainable livestock production. Policy portfolios consisted of policies regarding three attributes and additional taxation for the implementation of those policies. Given the policy portfolios, respondents were asked to choose a preferable option. The results show that the WTP (willingness to pay) for breeding condition enhancement and WTP for the supply of safe livestock products are more extensive than WTP for decreases in negative environmental effects. The aggregated WTP for sustainable livestock production is also quite large. To be specific, the aggregated WTP for sustainable pig production is about 3.7 ~ 4.4 trillion won per year. The aggregated WTP for sustainable cattle production is about 3.4 ~ 3.9 trillion won per year. Lastly, the aggregated WTP for sustainable chicken production is about 3.4 ~ 4.2 trillion won per year. These results imply that the government would have to correspond to high demand for sustainable livestock production by facilitating related policies and programs.