Behavioral Determinants of Biofortified Food Acceptance: The Case of Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato in Ghana

<p>Biofortified foods are being introduced in sub-Saharan Africa as an important strategy to help address micronutrient malnutrition. However, there has been little research on factors that could play decisive roles in their successful introduction. This paper investigates the determinants of consumer acceptance of biofortified orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) using data from a choice experiment conducted in Ghana. I find that OFSP is preferred to traditional white-fleshed and yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes as indicated by consumers' marginal willingness to pay for the three varieties. I also find that respondents' socio-economic characteristics do not have a significant effect on consumer acceptance of OFSP. Conversely, providing consumers with information about the nutritional benefits of OFSP exert a substantial, positive and significant effect on their acceptance of the produce. Providing nutritional information thus appears to be more crucial in the successful introduction of OFSP and other biofortified foods.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in International and Development Economics (MSIDEC)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Economics

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Etumnu, Chinonso E

Contributors dc:contributor

• Professor Elizabeth Katz

• Biofortification
• Willingness-to-pay
• Information
• Choice Experiment
• Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato
• Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Agricultural Economics
• Behavioral Economics
• Econometrics
• Food Biotechnology
• Food Security
• Health Economics
• International Economics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/173

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.usfca.edu:thes-1211