AGRICULTURAL MULTIFUNCTIONALITY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA: A CONTINGENT VALUATION METHOD APPROACH

Abstract

Agriculture multifunctionality highlights the importance of non-food benefits as joint products of agriculture. A study on the non-food benefits of agriculture is important to explore the potential of innovating the agricultural industry for sustainable development. The societal influence of agriculture multifunctionality (AMF), for instance job opportunities, more environmental-friendly crop-production methods and food security, is not much known, especially in Malaysia. Thus, the objectives of this study are to estimate the economic value and the factors influencing willingness-to-pay (WTP) for AMF. Additionally, there are vast potentials in AMF to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2, 8 and 12. A contingent valuation (CV) with two payment solicitation formats was commissioned on respondents in Kuala Lumpur to study the WTP an agricultural premium of the purchase values of agricultural products to support AMF. The findings support the direction of innovating the agricultural industry through AMF as one of the forerunners of sustainable growth for developing countries like Malaysia. Although only half of the respondents vowed their WTP for AMF, it is observed that households, which spend more on agricultural products such like vegetables, fruits and related goods are having higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF. The odds ratios change to values of more than 1.00 with spending, which was three times the mean value. And that payment card format begets higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF compared to open-ended CV method format. The findings encourage entrepreneurs, especially the youth to venture into the innovative non-food benefits of agriculture for more responsible usage of our natural resources and decent economic growth.