Is it worthwhile for Cambodian smallholders to invest in CamGAP certification? A domestic demand-side investigation

Transformation of the food system is critical in the face of growing challenges such as climate change. Smallholder farmers in the Global South are particularly vulnerable to these challenges, often living in poverty. One potential pathway to increasing their resilience and income is through price premiums and consistent buy-offs from supermarkets. However, supermarkets rarely source from domestic smallholder farmers due to unstable production and a lack of guarantee of complying with food safety standards. An instrument to overcome these shortcomings are certification schemes. However, for a farmer to invest in or for a policy to subsidize certification, it is central to understand if there is a consumer group that will respond to it. Thus, our objective is to investigate whether urban consumers in a low-income country setting are willing to pay a premium for certified food. We specifically focus on Cambodia and the newly established Cambodian Good Agricultural Practice (CamGAP) certification, which promotes food safety. This research seeks to understand whether the willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers can support the entry of small farmers into the supermarket supply chain. In markets where food safety is an emerging concern but clear signals are lacking, a key question is whether certification can override existing heuristics consumers currently use to identify safe food. We used a quantitative questionnaire and a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with middle to high income urban shoppers to assess their WTP for CamGAP certified food. We also conducted an information treatment as part of the DCE by showing a short video to a randomly selected treatment group to examine the impact of consumer knowledge on purchasing decisions. Our results show that consumers' WTP is higher for certified food, with an even stronger WTP after receiving the information treatment. Notably, consumers were also more willing to pay for domestic fresh food after the treatment. Our study provides first evidence for governments and international agencies that certification can support smallholder farmers in accessing supermarkets, even in countries where food safety certifications are just entering the market.