Willingness to pay for area-wide management and sterile insect technique to control fruit flies in Australia

Abstract

Fruit flies are a biosecurity threat to international trade of horticultural produce around the world. Area-wide management (AWM) of fruit flies offers a promising solution to coordinate farmers’ activities to fight against the spread of this pest. The incorporation of the sterile insect technique (SIT) may increase the effectiveness of AWM and lead to greater suppression and possible eradication of the fruit fly pest. This article presents findings from a choice experiment survey to ascertain the willingness to pay (WTP) for the benefits of a suite of AWM features and SIT. These features include the benefits from (1) coordinated fruit fly monitoring, (2) coordinated on-farm male annihilation of fruit flies, (3) management of fruit fly in residential areas, and (4) coordinated release of sterile flies. This is the first study of its kind to assess the WTP for AWM and SIT in a developed country. Results suggest that growers are willing to pay for SIT and coordinated fruit fly management in residential areas but are not willing to pay for other coordinated services that they are already practicing on their farms.