A Hedonic Perspective to Estimating a Marginal Value Function for a Subsistence Crop

A hedonic price model is used to estimate the marginal value function for output characteristics of a subsistence crop in a developing economy. Within the framework of the agricultural household, with non-separable consumption and production decisions, prices reflect the implicit marginal valuation of both consumption and production attributes jointly. Variety-specific crop product farm-gate prices are used in the hedonic analysis. The findings provide guidance for future crop improvement efforts, while revealing those attributes most likely to capture premiums at the market place. Implicit premiums for attribute scarcity are also revealed. Improvements in infrastructure could partially reduce the implicit costs of transportation, leading to higher farm-gate prices and price premiums for size and quality.