Consumers’ Perception and Willingness to Pay For Organic Leafy Vegetables in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State

Abstract

The harmful effects of the use of agrochemicals and inorganic fertilizers on livestock, human beings among others have made developing countries including Nigeria to gradually move towards organic agriculture. Furthermore, food safety is steadily becoming an important issue the reason  being that people desire to consume food free of chemical residues. This study was carried out to determine consumers’ perception of organic leafy vegetables and their willingness to pay a premium  for the organic leafy vegetables in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Primary data was collected using a multistage sampling technique to collect data from 120 respondents using a structured questionnaire containing Contingency Valuation (CV) questions and other relevant variables. The Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression model. Result

shows that 55 percent of the respondents were single, 43.3 percent were married. Most (83%) of the respondents were in their active working age. Logit model result showed that Bid price (1%) andhousehold size (5%) significantly influence willingness to pay (WTP) for organic vegetable based on environmental benefit. Likewise, Bid price (1%), age (1%), years of formal education (5%), monthly income (5%) and being an artisan have significant effect on WTP for organic leafy vegetable based on health benefit. The estimates of mean WTP were N58.64 and N77.74 based on environmental and health benefits respectively. It was recommended that respondents’ human capacity development should be enhanced while enlightenment programme to create proper awareness about organic leafy vegetables should be put in place.