Factors affecting participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund: A study in a participatory forest in Bangladesh

This paper examined the factors that might influence participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund (TFF) established for sustainable development of participatory forest management (PFM). Information on willingness-to-pay, socioeconomic characteristics, and attitudes of participating farmers toward TFF were obtained from interviews with 581 participating farmers. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the dominant factors that might influence participating farmers' willingness-to-pay for the TFF. The results showed that participating farmers' willingness-to-pay was significantly affected by (i) family income; (ii) education level; (iii) confidence that his aspired benefits will be received; (iv) agreement with the statement that 'PFM is sustainable under the present state of management'; (v) agreement with the statement that 'PFM is a good strategy for forest conservation'; and (vi) knowledge of PFM strategies. Thus, participating farmers with a higher level of education, higher income and positive attitudes toward TFF tended to express more willingness-to-pay. Establishment of TFF could be an effective strategy in implementing sustainable PFM in Bangladesh. For this strategy to succeed, however, active partnership between the participating farmers and Forest Department is required. Participating farmers' attitudes toward TFF should therefore be taken into consideration as should the results of this study, which are important indicators of participating farmers' positive attitudes toward TFF.