Consumers' acceptability of iodine-biofortified tomato in Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria

C.P Adekunle,S Shokunbi,A.R Popoola,R.B Omosanya,S.A Ganiyu

doi:10.4314/njb.v36i1.17

Abstract

Higher exposure rate to certain chemicals found in processed foods that reduce iodine absorption and a depletion in the amount of iodine found in soil have been reported to be detrimental to health. This study seeks to examine the consumers' acceptability and willingness to pay a price premium for iodine-enriched tomatoes in Abeokuta, southwest, Nigeria. Primary data were used to collect a sample of 300 respondents. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) under double bounded dichotomous choice approach. The use of dichotomous choice (DC) method in explaining the willingness to pay (WTP) in contingent valuation studies is a common method in Economics. Research has shown that double-bounded Dichotomous Choice methods provide statistically superior outcomes than single bounded methods, given appropriate sampling design. Results from the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents revealed a mean age of 42 years and are mainly (83%) in their economic active age (<50 years), 69% male respondents, 63% were married and 53% of the respondents had prior knowledge of iodine-biofortified tomato. It was also revealed that 58% of the respondent are willing to accept and pay a premium for iodine-biofortified tomato. Although, the proportion of the respondents who were willing to pay generally decreases with increases in price. It is concluded that age, level of education, income, prior knowledge and bid price were the significant factors influencing respondents' willingness to pay a price premium for iodine-biofortified tomato in the study area. Keywords: acceptability, contingent valuation method, iodine-biofortified tomato, price premium

Highlights

The health and well-being of a population are significantly influenced by their nutritional status
(i) to describe socio-economic characteristics and awareness of the respondents, their attitudes and perceptions towards Iodine Biofortified Tomato (IBT), (ii) to assess consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for IBT and (iii) to identify factors influencing consumers' willingness to pay for IBT
To elicit consumers' willingness to pay for IBT, contingent valuation method was applied, which helped to find out how much an individual respondent would be willing to pay by using hypothetical survey questions as used by Mitchell and Carson (1989) and kamal et al (2009)

Summary

Introduction

The health and well-being of a population are significantly influenced by their nutritional status. A healthy and well-balanced diet, with a variety of high-quality foods ensuring the right proportions of different types of nutrients, is important in both prevention and treatment of several diseases. Do daily calorie requirements need to be carefully met, and the consumption of a number of specific elements, the lack of which may promote or lead to serious ailments, needs to be guaranteed in order to prevent nutritional deficiencies. Iodine is an essential element for human physiology (Andersson et al, 2005), being involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Chronic iodine deficiency, called hypothyroidism, can trigger goiter, growth impairment, reproductive failure, hearing loss, cretinism, and several kinds of brain damage (Andersson et al, 2005; Delange, 2000; Dillon and Milliez, 2000; Haddow et al, 1999)

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Results

Conclusion