Browsing by Subject "Verbraucherakzeptanz"

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    Consumer acceptance of iron biofortified varieties of staple food crops
    (2019) Pérez, Salomón; Zeller, Manfred
    Micronutrient deficiency is one of the most common forms of malnutrition worldwide. Iron deficiency alone affects 2 billion people worldwide. Since 2004, HarvestPlusis working on the development of new staple crop varieties with higher micronutrient content using conventional breeding methods. This strategy is known as “biofortification.” According to the trait that has been bred into a biofortified crop, these are classified into visible and invisible nutritional traits. A crop with an invisible nutritional trait represents a challenge in terms of acceptance by target consumers since these invisible traits target an invisible nutritional problem. Micronutrient deficiencies are also called hidden hunger, due to the invisibility of their consequences. Iron- and zinc-biofortified crops might be considered credence goods, i.e., goods characterized by the fact that although consumers can observe their utility, these derive from ex-post goods, and therefore, they cannot judge whether the type or quality of the good they receive is the ex-ante they needed. Further, one of the main characteristics of these products is the asymmetric information between producers and sellers on the one hand, and consumers on the other hand. For example, producers might not be aware of a particular trait as their seeds and plants do not show any visible feature, and conversely, consumers might not be aware of the needs and utility of what producers are offering to them. Subsequently, nutritional information should play an essential role in reducing the asymmetric and imperfect information characterizing iron- and zinc-biofortified crops and creating a growing market for them. To this end, this cumulative dissertation consists of four interrelated papers. The first article, entitled “Consumer acceptance of an iron bean variety in Northwest Guatemala: The role of information and repeated messaging,” analyzes the acceptance of different organoleptic attributes and the willingness to pay for an iron-biofortified variety compared with a popular local variety. It addresses the first research question: What are the impact of nutritional information and its repetition on consumer’s acceptance on the main organoleptic attributes of an iron bean variety in rural Guatemala and the willingness to pay for these varieties compared with the most popular local variety? The impact of receiving information about the nutritional features and the benefits of the biofortified variety and its repetition on the valuation of the attributes tested and on the general acceptance was evaluated. The second paper, “Identifying socioeconomic characteristics defining consumers’ acceptance for main organoleptic attributes of an iron-biofortified variety in Guatemala”, addresses the second research question: Which socioeconomic factors define consumers’ attitudes towards some specific attributes of an iron-biofortified bean variety in rural Guatemala? This article provides a deeper analysis of how consumers’ preferences towards some specific sensory attributes, such as color and taste, are defined by consumers’ socio-demographic characteristics. This is the first time that the socio-demographic characteristics predicting consumers’ preferences for the main sensory attributes of a biofortified variety are analyzed. This analysis allows understanding how those preferences are formed based on respondents’ characteristics and of the differences in consumer acceptance of similar varieties. According to the literature reviewed, men are less interested in health-promoting behaviors, and healthier lifestyle patterns, so nutritional information is expected to have a lesser impact on men’s acceptance of the iron-biofortified varieties tested. A promotion strategy of a biofortified variety based on nutritional information addressed to women could be more cost-effective compared to one addressed to men, as women are generally the primary caretakers of children and they influence food purchase decisions and intra-household distribution of food. Based on this scientific evidence, the third article, “The impact of nutritional information on consumer acceptance of nutritious foods: A gendered analysis of iron-biofortified foods in India, Guatemala, and Rwanda”, addresses the third research question: Which role do gender aspects plays in the impact of nutritional information on the acceptance towards iron-biofortified crops? Another socioeconomic characteristic evaluated is consumer market participation. There is empirical evidence that respondents’ acceptance of a new agricultural product –as a new variety– depends on whether its main role in the market is as a consumer or as a producer. Those with higher participation as a producer will be more interested in those market-oriented attributes, such as size, color, and texture. On the contrary, those that are more consumer-oriented will be interested in attributes, such as taste and time required for cooking. In this same direction, all the consumer acceptance trials with biofortified crops carried out have used grains, and respondents are in most of the cases producers who might be more interested in testing seeds instead of tasting grains when evaluating agronomic attributes. In this sense, the fourth article, “Role of respondent’s market participation on consumer acceptance towards seeds and grains of an iron bean variety” addresses the fourth and final research question: Are respondents’ primary role as consumers or producers and their participation in markets play a significant role in how iron-biofortified crops are evaluated?