Willingness-to-Pay for LNS Products: Evidence from the iLiNS Studies
Stephen Vosti *
UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Katherine Adams
UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Emmanuel Ayifah
University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Rosemonde Guissou
Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
Thokozani Phiri
U of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Per Ashorn
U of Tampere Medical School, Tampere, Finland.
Anna Lartey
University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Ken Maleta
U of Malawi College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi.
Jean Bosco Ouedraogo
Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
Kathryn Dewey
UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Travis Lybbert
UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objectives: Households’ stated willingness-to-pay (WTP) for small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) influence the economic viability of retail outlets for these products, and will guide public policy action when WTP falls short of LNS production/distribution costs. This presentation provides evidence on WTP for LNS products tested in the context of the International Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) Project in Malawi, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Methods: Field-based contingent valuation methods provide estimates of WTP for LNS for pregnant/lactating women (LNS-P&L) and for children 6-24 mo of age (LNS-child), and for their traditional alternatives. Experimental auctions provide incentive-compatible estimates of WTP for LNS-P&L (Ghana) and for LNS-child (Burkina Faso).
Results: Average hypothetical WTP at baseline for LNS-child (one 20g sachet) was approximately US$0.39 (Ghana), US$0.23 (Burkina Faso) and US$0.20 (Malawi-DOSE). Average hypothetical WTP at baseline for LNS-P&L (one 20g sachet) was approximately US$0.61 (Ghana) and US$0.17 (Malawi-DYAD). Average experimental WTP for LNS-P&L (20g sachet) was, respectively, approximately US$0.25 (Ghana) and US$0.12 (Burkina Faso). Several household characteristics that could be used for programmatic targeting, e.g., number of children under five years of age, were associated with WTP.
Conclusions: Hypothetical WTP is positive for the vast majority of respondents in all study areas and average WTP is above estimated average national production costs for all LNS products; hence, LNS products may be commercially viable. However, large proportions of respondents reported WTP below average production costs (e.g., approximately 6% of respondents reported zero WTP in the Ghana baseline) signalling the need to consider publically assisted mechanisms for reaching resource-poor households.