Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Health-Oriented Chicken Meat in Shiraz

In this study, health-oriented chicken meat was introduced to consumers in Shiraz by creating a constructed market based on three characteristics including the lack of antibiotics in the production process, standard chicken size and chicken health. Contingent valuation method with open-ended questionnaire was utilized to assess the consumers' willingness to pay for this product. Data were collected by completing the questionnaire from 440 citizens in summer 2017. A two-stage Heckman model was applied to identify the factors affecting the selection and estimation of the extra amount they would be willing to pay for health-oriented chicken poultry compared to that for conventional chicken. Data analysis showed that about 78% of the people are willing to pay 19650 Rial on average as additional amount to buy health-oriented chicken. The probability of choosing health-oriented chicken by average-income households is calculated to be 11% higher than that for the low-income ones. Moreover, age and household dimension have negative and significant effects on the households' willingness to pay for health-oriented chicken. Educational level, income and marital status positively and significantly affect the amount of willingness to pay.