URBAN CONSUMERS' PERCEPTIONS AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR SAFETY'"I

OF LEAFY VEGETABLES: THE CASE OF KALE CONSUMERS IN NAIROBI

MARTHER WANJIRU NGIGI, BSC (UoN)/.-------/

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS IN THE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

IN UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

University of NAIROBI library

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SEPTEMBER 2010

ABSTRACT

Throughout developing countries, food quality and safety are becoming increasingly important

attributes to urban consumers being driven by consumers' lifestyle changes, urbanization and

income growth. Rapid urbanization in many of these countries has led to generation of huge

volumes of polluted water, some of which is being used for leafy vegetable production. The use

of polluted/contaminated water seems beneficial from the point of view of food security and

social benefits. However, from food safety perspective, it poses public health problems. Leafy

vegetables produced using polluted water are prone to contamination with heavy metals and

pathogens that pose health risks to consumers. At the same time, the demand by consumers for

aesthetic quality attributes in leafy vegetables has led to excessive use of fertilizer and pesticides

by farmers. This has led to high residue levels of agrochemicals (i.e., pesticide and fertilizer

residues) in such vegetables. The objective of this study was to examine urban consumers"

perceptions on and willingness to pay for safe leafy vegetables in Nairobi. The study also

examined factors conditioning urban consumers willing to pay for safety of leafy vegetables.

The study focused on kales produced in peri-urban areas for sale in Nairobi. Descriptive analysis

method was applied to assess urban consumers' attitudes towards safety of the kales while

contingent valuation and the payment card method were used to examine urban consumers'

willingness to pay for safe kale. The Tobit model was used to assess factors driving urban

consumers' willingness to pay for safer kale. The study targeted four market segments in Nairobi

namely high-end specialty stores, supermarkets, open-air markets and roadside market. These

markets were therefore selected to represent high, medium and low income kale consumers.

Systematic random sampling was used to select the respondents. Every third person who bought

kale in the targeted markets segments was interviewed. Data was collected from respondents

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through personal interviews using pre-tested questionnaires. The data collected included a broad

range of quality attributes (safety, sensory/visual attributes, nutrition, environmental friendliness,

hygiene in handling, and ethics), consumer perceptions towards safety of kales, household

demographic information, social capital, and willingness to pay values or figures.

The study found that consumer's perception on vegetable safety varied with market segment and

level of education. A high number of kale consumers (89%) indicated that they knew about food

safety. However, only a few respondents indicated that they were aware of how leafy vegetables

from peri-urban areas were produced (38 percent) or handled in the market or during

transportation (26 percent). The study also found that consumer ranked safety, sensory/visual

quality and hygiene as the most important attributes. The study further found that willingness to

pay for kale safety ranged from 30 t070 percent depending on the market segment. This range of

willingness to pay was comparable to those of other studies in similar environments. The study

found that lifestyle, income, education, access to information about food safety from social

networks and consumers' perceptions influenced willingness to pay for kales safety.

The findings of this study imply that public awareness of health risks associated with food

production processes needs to be promoted. This could be achieved through the use of social,

networks especially those that focus on health issues related to food safety. High willingness to

pay for safety of kale indicated that consumers place high value on the safety of leafy vegetables

and suggests the existence of great potential for domestic market actors to improve the leafy

vegetable value chains by focusing on delivering safety. In addition, given that quality or safety

attributes are credence attributes, the findings of this study imply that there is need for

government or private sector regulation of the leafy vegetables production and retailing

practices.

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