Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to estimate on-farm conservation costs based on household-level financial opportunity costs which, in turn, are estimated using sorghum and wheat household survey data from Ethiopia. The results suggest that opportunity costs need to be responsive to agricultural development opportunities, crop types and farmers’ characteristics which will all affect the national level conservation costs. Farmers have to be contextually targeted (for on-farm conservation) and treated based on their attribute profiles. Different levels and types of compensation schemes might be required for different groups. Institutionalizing on-farm conservation and optimizing costs calls for fulfilling farmers’ expectations based on the opportunity costs they forego.

Key words: On-farm ​conservation, crop diversity, opportunity cost, cost, sorghum, wheat, Ethiopia.