Abstract
The importance of pulse cultivation and consumption is recognized by the scientific community in terms of human nutrition, food security, biodiversity and a valid substitute for animal protein. In some marginal areas, pulse cultivation represents also a protection against the abandonment of agricultural land, the preservation of traditional landscape and the maintenance of natural environments, besides contributing to the safeguard of traditional gastronomy and culture.This study explores how some characteristics connected with rural sustainability, like the preservation of the traditional rural landscape, production area in a Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance (SCI) and EU quality labels (PDO and PGI), might influence organic consumers’ choice of lentils. Data were collected in the Umbria region (Italy) in 2014 by interviewing 213 consumers’ members of Organic Solidarity Purchase Groups (O-SPGs). The Discrete Choice Experiment methodology was used, and three different models (Multinomial Logit Model (MNL), Mixed Logit Model (RPL) and Endogenous Attribute Attendance (EAA)) were applied to verify the reliability of the estimates. Attribute non-attendance (ANA) behaviour was taken into account. Results reveal that the presence of ANA had an impact on both the relative importance of the estimated attributes and the magnitude of the estimated mean WTP. Therefore, this study suggests that WTP mean estimates should be considered with caution for marketing purposes if ANA is not considered. Looking at pulses, the results help to understand the importance in monetary terms of the relationship between lentil choice and rural sustainability.
Highlights
With the declaration of 2016 as “International Year of Pulses” (IYP) and recognition of10 February as World Pulses Day, both by the United Nations General Assembly (Eurostat, 2020), pulses have been given a central role in improving food security and nutrition and creating more sustainable and climate-resilient food systems (Curran et al, 2017; Xipsiti et al, 2017; Calles, 2016)
We focused on consumers’ preferences of Organic Solidarity Purchase Groups’ (OSPGs) members with the aim to investigate which attributes might influence their purchase of organic lentils basing on two considerations: (i) Italian lentil production is carried out on organic or low-input farms located in rural and fringe area and (ii) O-SPGs’ members are generally considered “community-oriented conscious consumers” (Zoll et al, 2018, pg. 107) and, they should be the most responsive to this type of survey
Sample characteristics and lentil consumption preferences The general overview of the socio-demographics of the people interviewed is presented in Table 2: of the 213 respondents, 67.6% were women and 49.7% were between the ages of 31 and 50
Summary
With the declaration of 2016 as “International Year of Pulses” (IYP) and recognition of10 February as World Pulses Day, both by the United Nations General Assembly (Eurostat, 2020), pulses have been given a central role in improving food security and nutrition and creating more sustainable and climate-resilient food systems (Curran et al, 2017; Xipsiti et al, 2017; Calles, 2016). Being pulses an essential nourishing food source in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as well as part of their. Paffarini et al Agricultural and Food Economics (2021) 9:29 traditional dietary component, nutritional and environmental pulse value is still underestimated and average consumption remains low in Western Europe (Xipsiti et al, 2017): it is estimated between 7 and 8 g/capita/day (FAOSTAT, 2016) comparing with the nutritional recommendations that range up to 20–35 g/capita/day (Marlett et al, 2002). On the basis of continents, the highest pulse production in 2019 was in Asia (with an increase of 17.3 million tons over the past two decades) followed by sub-Saharan Africa (with a rise of 10.5 million tons in the same period) and America (with a gain of 7 million tons) (FAOSTAT, 2020). Even if the estimates suggest a growing world trade of pulses, there is still limited market information currently available on these products
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