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Consumer perceptions and willingness to pay for cassava-wheat composite bread in Ghana: A hedonic pricing approach

Victor Owusu (Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)
Enoch Owusu-Sekyere (Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)
Emmanuel Donkor (Department of Food Business and Development, University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland)
Nana Ama Darkwaah (Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)
Derrick Adomako-Boateng Jr (Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies

ISSN: 2044-0839

Article publication date: 21 August 2017

615

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for composite flour bread produced with a blend of 15-40 per cent cassava flour blended with wheat flour in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on interviews with 350 consumers in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions of Ghana to assess their awareness, perceptions and WTP for cassava-wheat composite bread. From these consumer interviews, a hedonic regression model was applied to evaluate consumers’ WTP for various attributes of composite flour bread. Price-related and health-related perceptions of consumers on cassava-wheat composite bread were investigated with perception indices. Multi-attribute preference-based contingent ratings that rate product attributes in terms of importance to consumers was employed. The implicit prices of the product attributes representing the contribution of the product attributes to the WTP amount were also computed.

Findings

The paper finds that consumers who are aware of cassava-blended flour bread and who like its taste and texture are willing to pay more than consumers who are unaware. This leads to a policy recommendation advocating increased advertising of the economic and nutritional benefits of cassava-wheat blended composite flour bread.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies should explore the choice experiments to examine preferences for the food product.

Originality/value

This paper evaluates consumers’ WTP for composite flour bread produced with a blend of 15-40 per cent cassava flour and wheat flour. Given widespread reliance on imported wheat flour and the simultaneously large volumes of locally available cassava, it is important to consider opportunities for import substitution (and possible cost reduction for consumers) of blended flour products such as cassava-wheat composite flours. Nigeria has imposed a 10 per cent blending requirement for this reason. Ghana has taken important measures recently for the development of high-quality cassava flour, and so research on its potential and actual uptake is welcomed and highly relevant to food security and agribusiness development.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers and the journal editor for very useful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft. The authors are also grateful to all agribusiness management students and staff of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana who contributed immensely to reshape this study.

Citation

Owusu, V., Owusu-Sekyere, E., Donkor, E., Darkwaah, N.A. and Adomako-Boateng Jr, D. (2017), "Consumer perceptions and willingness to pay for cassava-wheat composite bread in Ghana: A hedonic pricing approach", Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 115-134. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-11-2014-0044

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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