Measuring Market Potential for Fresh Organic Fruit and Vegetable in Ghana

This paper examines the market potential for fresh organic lettuce and water melon with a recently collected data on consumers from Kumasi metropolis of Ghana. Using a doublebounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation technique, consumer’s willingness to pay is estimated with a Tobit model to address the zero willingness to pay responses in the sample data. As much as 71% of the consumers are willing to pay over 50% price premiums for organic vegetables and over 82% are willing to pay 1%–50% price premiums for organic fruits. The empirical results indicate that human capital, product attributes and consumer perception influence consumers’ willing to pay for organic food products. The estimated market potential for organic fruit is GH¢32,117,113 (US$26,453,433) per annum and that of organic vegetable is GH¢1,991,224 (US$1,640,083) per annum suggesting a huge market potential for organic fruits in Ghana.Willingness to Pay, Price Premium, Organic Products, Consumer Perception, Market Potential, Africa, Crop Production/Industries,

Measuring Market Potential for Fresh Organic Fruit and Vegetable in Ghana

This paper examines the market potential for fresh organic lettuce and water melon with a recently collected data on consumers from Kumasi metropolis of Ghana. Using a doublebounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation technique, consumer’s willingness to pay is estimated with a Tobit model to address the zero willingness to pay responses in the sample data. As much as 71% of the consumers are willing to pay over 50% price premiums for organic vegetables and over 82% are willing to pay 1%–50% price premiums for organic fruits. The empirical results indicate that human capital, product attributes and consumer perception influence consumers’ willing to pay for organic food products. The estimated market potential for organic fruit is GH¢32,117,113 (US$26,453,433) per annum and that of organic vegetable is GH¢1,991,224 (US$1,640,083) per annum suggesting a huge market potential for organic fruits in Ghana

Consumer Willingness to Pay a Premium for Organic Fruit and Vegetable in Ghana

This paper analyzes the willingness of consumers to pay a premium for organic watermelon and lettuce using contingent valuation data from urban Kumasi in Ghana. The effects of the determinants of consumer willingness to pay a premium are estimated with a bivariate Tobit model. The empirical findings indicate that in addition to socioeconomic characteristics, product freshness and cleanness tend to have positive effects on consumer willingness to pay a premium for organic watermelon compared to conventional watermelon. Whereas product size has a negative influence on consumer willingness to pay premium for organic lettuce, less insect damage to vegetables tends to have a positive effect. The study estimates the willingness to pay a premium for organic watermelon/lettuce compared to conventional watermelon/lettuce. The estimated mean consumer willingness to pay premium for 1 kilogram of organic