Willingness to pay for increasing river water quality in Aksu River, Turkey

In large part of the world, rivers are polluted with sewage, industrial and agricultural wastes. The objective of this study is to determine farmers' willingness to pay to improve the water quality of the Aksu River in Kahramanmaras Province. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with 236 farmers in the study area and the contingent valuation method and binomial probit model were used to evaluate river quality. As a result of the analysis, it is determined that average farm size was 188.2 decares, average annual income was $ 40377.56 and 87.3% of the respondents want to do good agricultural practices, which is a form of production that does not harm the environment, human and animal health. Model results showed that the region (polluted and not polluted area) and the use of fertilizers according to soil analysis results affect farmers' willingness to pay positively. On the other hand, the education level of farmers and bid price have a negative effect on the willingness to pay. As a result of the analysis, it is determined that the farmers wanted to pay $8.03 per decare to improve the river water quality.