CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) FOR ORGANIC CABBAGE IN CHEGUTU, ZIMBABWE

CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO PAY (WTP) FOR ORGANIC CABBAGE IN CHEGUTU, ZIMBABWE

MANYERE SAVANHU H.

MAPFUMO ALEXANDER1,

KATEMA TERERAI

HANYANI-MLAMBO BENJAMIN

MHAKA NYASHA P

WIRI MOUDY

MUBEREKWA JUSTICE

MUPASO NORMAN

An assessment of consumer willingness to pay for ‘novel’ products is critical because it
determines the market entry point for a business venture. A research study was conducted
between July and September 2023 in Chegutu to analyse consumers’ willingness to pay for
organic cabbage with the conventional cabbage as the benchmark. Data from 200 respondents
was collected using a mall-intercept survey from the 4th of July to the 10th of September 2023
using convenience sampling. The study targeted consumers that are 18 years and above as the
primary grocery shoppers of their households. This paper represents the first attempt to analyse
the consumer willingness to pay for organic foods in Zimbabwe to the knowledge of the
researcher. The modern approach to consumer demand theory (The Attribute/Lancaster Model)
regards consumption as an activity with goods as inputs yielding output in terms of a pool of
attributes. Unlike the traditional economic demand theory, it is able to explain why some
consumers prefer highly priced organically produced foods to the cheaper conventionally
produced alternatives. A double-bounded contingent valuation approach was used to
determine the price premium while logistic regression was used to analyse the factors affecting
willingness to pay. An average price premium of 61% was established. Lifestyle and organic
source of information (agricultural fairs or exhibitions) were shown to negatively affect
willingness to pay. On the other hand, consumers who had high ethical values and were married
had a high probability of a willingness to pay for organic cabbage. In future, willingness to pay
should be measured through actual purchase of these credence foods at the point of sale

ZIBEM

2024