Consumer behavior and perceptions towards agro-processed fruit and vegetables in Ngaka Modiri Molema district

Abstract

The behavior of consumers with regard to agro-processed fruit and vegetables differs. This study aimed to explore the behavior of consumers and the perceptions of consumers towards agro-processed fruit and vegetables in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district of North West province. The specific objectives of this study were: firstly, to determine the socio-economic characteristics of agro-processed fruit and vegetable consumers, secondly, to describe the attitude of consumers towards agro-processed fruit and vegetables, and lastly, to determine the factors influencing the willingness of consumers to purchase agro-processed fruit and vegetables. A sample of 384 individuals was selected as the study population using simple random sampling. Univariate descriptive statistics was used to determine the socio-economic characteristics of agro-processed fruit and vegetable consumers. Descriptive statistics on a Likert scale was used to describe the attitude of consumers towards agro-processed fruit and vegetables. In addition, a binary logistic regression model was utilized to identify the factors influencing the willingness of consumers to purchase agro-processed fruit and vegetables. The findings of this study demonstrated that 47% of consumers were male while 53% of consumers were female. The majority of agro-processed fruit and vegetable consumers were between the ages of 20 and 29 years. The majority of consumers in this study had a monthly household income of less than R5000 and the minority of consumers did not indicate their income level. The results of this study indicated that most of the consumers had tertiary education while the minority of the consumers had ABET education. Moreover, 51% of the consumers were fulltime employed while 36% of consumers were unemployed. The most purchased agroprocessed fruit and vegetable product was juice and the least purchased agro-processed fruit and vegetable was pickle. Results on a Likert scale showed that consumers indicated positive attitudes regarding the familiarity, discounts and quality assessment of agro-processed fruit and vegetables. Additionally, consumers indicated neutral attitudes regarding price comparison, brand selectivity and store selectivity. Results of a binary logistic regression model showed that factors such as municipality/geographic region (p = 0.084), monthly household income (p = 0.014), preference for canned products (p = 0.013), preference for grape (p = 0,002) and source of information (p = 0.078) had a positive and significant correlation with the consumers'willingness to purchase agro-processed fruit and vegetables. Factors such as preference for peach (p = 0.042), beans (p = 0.013), jelly (p = 0.036), chutney (p = 0.035), and store selectivity(p = 0.013) had a negative and significant relationship with the willingness of consumers to purchase agro-processed fruit and vegetables. The study recommended the application of grassroots action or campaigns to increase the purchase frequency of agro-processed fruit and vegetables. Moreover, the study recommended that marketers should use information from this study to apprehend trends in agro-processed fruit and vegetables and thus modify their marketing segmentation strategies accordingly. Marketers should adjust and reinforce marketing strategies for agro-processed fruit and vegetables and also plan innovative strategies thereof.