Social Valuation of Genebank Activities: Assessing Public Demand for Genetic Resource Conservation in the Czech Republic

The use of diverse genetic resources to breed improved crop varieties has been a key driver of agricultural productivity improvements in the past century. At the same time, the adoption of modern varieties has contributed to substantial loss of traditional varieties. This analysis estimates the social value provided by several proposed crop diversity conservation programs to be carried out by the Czech genebank system. The double-bounded dichotomous choice model was used to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for conserving additional crop varieties in the genebank for ten years using data collected through an online contingent valuation survey administered to a sample representative of the general Czech population (1037 respondents) and a smaller sub-sample representative of the agricultural region of South Moravia (500 respondents). The study illustrates an empirical approach of potential value for policymakers responsible for determining funding levels for genetic resource conservation.