Consumer’s Preference and Willingess to Pay for Organic Foods in Osogbo Southwest, Nigeria

Yesufu OA, FJ Aremu*, R Kassali and AA Adebayo

Received: April 20, 2018;   Published: May 02, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/CIACR.2018.02.000141

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Despite millions of smallholder vegetable farmers along the market chain of subsistence agriculture in most developing countries, consumption of organic vegetables in Nigeria has been reported to be significantly low. Consumers’ preference for organic vegetable with emphasis on wareness, perception and willingness to pay was studied. One hundred consumers were randomly selected. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on socioeconomic characteristics and other relevant variables. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and Spearman ranking. The result showed that there was high awareness of organic vegetable in the metropolis and Consumers were mostly informed through television (27.8%), radio (23.2%) and internet (29.3%). Consumers preferred organic vegetables to conventional ones as it was perceived to be healthier (77%), of better quality (76%), tastier (66%), less harmful (66%) but expensive (30%) respectively. There was good supply of organic vegetable in the market and Okro (21.6%), Amaranths vegetables (20.4%) and tomato (19.8%) were the organic vegetables mostly consumed in the metropolis. Health concern (80%), satisfaction (79%) and safety (78%) respectively are the major reasons why consumer opted for organic vegetable. The consumers’ familiarity with organic vegetables mostly influences them to be willing to pay premium on the vegetables. Facilities to expand, proper certification and labelling of organic products were recommended to encourage continuous growth of the market.

Keywords: Awareness; Perception; Consumers; Organic-Food

Abstract| Introduction| Methodology| Results and Discussion| Source of Information on Organic Vegetables| Conclusion and Recommendation| References|