Paper Title
Consumers’ Willingness to Pay and factors affecting Pesticide-free Rice Buying: Case Study of Phayao Province Consumers

Abstract
This study aimed to explore price levels and factors affecting willingness of the consumers to pay for pesticide-free rice by using consumer samplings of 400 participants in Mueang District, Phayao Province. The methods used for this study are Contingent Valuation Method in type of Double Bounded CVM together with Multinomial Logit Models. The result reveals that consumers are willing to pay 12.73 Baht per Kilogram to consume pesticide-free rice. Factors affecting consumers’ willingness (to pay) that have statistically significance at confident interval of 95% consist of 6 aspects. Factors which are according to the hypothesis of the study include: 1) education level, 2) experience in consumption of pesticide-free or other organic products, and 3) price strategy; while factors that are not relevant to the hypothesis include 4) consumers’ members in the family, 5) communication and 6) income of the households. It is found from this study that pesticide-free rice is a product that has potential for growth among community markets. Senior people have more influential factor (in willingness to buy) than other family members. Communication toward the consumers by traditional modes (e.g. radio broadcasting, community radio) is more efficient than modern media (on-line media.) Keywords - Marketing Approach, Pesticide Free Rice, Willingness to Pay.