Willingness-to-pay and demand for sanitation products in rural northern Ghana: Impacts of seasonality and methodology

Open defecation practices persist in some resource-limited contexts, such as rural northern Ghana, where poverty and environmental conditions can make appropriate sanitation infrastructure unaffordable. This study assessed household willingness-to-pay (WTP) for sanitation products in 146 communities across four regions of northern Ghana. Sanitation products included the Digni-Loo slab, a locally marketed plastic latrine slab, and four full toilet facilities (Digni-Loo Toilet, Sato Toilet, BioFill Toilet, Water Closet), each including a slab, superstructure, and durable substructure suitable for local soils. During harvest and non-harvest seasons, we measured revealed WTP for the Digni-Loo slab using Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auctions, where households bid money to purchase the product (N = 587 unique households). We measured stated WTP for all sanitation products using contingent valuation, where households report what they would pay without making a real purchase (N = 638 households). We found WTP levels far below all sanitation products’ actual costs, suggesting a need for subsidies. Revealed WTP for the Digni-Loo slab during harvest season averaged 191 GHS (17 USD; 14% of cost) and was slightly lower during non-harvest season (171 GHS; 16 USD). Revealed WTP also tended to be higher in rural small towns than in more remote communities. Households’ stated WTP typically overestimated their revealed WTP for the Digni-Loo slab, with revealed WTP averaging 53–77% of stated WTP. Stated WTP was especially high during non-harvest season, averaging 419 GHS (38 USD) or 30% of cost. During harvest season, stated WTP averaged 295 GHS (27 USD) and was more consistent with revealed WTP, suggesting agricultural households were better able to predict purchasing behavior when more funds were available. Stated WTP for other toilet facilities ranged between 11–31% of their cost. Overall, findings from this work can inform regional efforts toward sanitation promotion, while also providing broader insight into sanitation demand seasonality and relationships between stated and revealed WTP.