Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Fruits and Vegetables and its Market Potential in Bengaluru District, Karnataka

Abstract

Organic fruits and vegetables which are free from chemicals contributes many nutritional benefits to human health as well as to overcome disease hazards. In India, from last decade organic farming has gained more importance and consumers are willing to purchase organic produce. Double-Bounded Dichotomous Choice (DBDC) method of Contingent Valuation and Binomial Multiple Logistic Regression model has been used to estimate the factors affecting the WTP of the farmer. It was estimated that the mean willingness to pay for organic French bean was 89.6 per kg, for organic banana was 51 per kg and finally for organic grapes was 151.33 per kg. It is also found that the market potential for organic french bean in domestic market was estimated as 7.37 crore, for organic banana it was estimated as 4.61 crore and for organic grapes it was estimated as 10.41 crore. From the results, it can be concluded that there will be a huge demand and market potential for organic fruits and vegetables in future days.