Effects of Consumer Preferences on Environmentally Friendly Tomatoes in Myanmar

Abstract

Environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems are crucial to conserve natural resources and the environment as well as to protect human health. In recent years, Myanmar, one of the agricultural-resource-rich developing countries, is confronting land degradation, environmental pollution, and food safety issues due to intensive agricultural methods that use high dosages of agro-chemical inputs. Myanmar environmental farming systems and the market for environmentally certified products are still under developed. Determining consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for environmentally certified products are vitally important to develop safe food markets. In this study, the choice experiment method was applied to examine consumer preference and the potential demand for environmentally friendly tomatoes. Using a sructured questionnaire in face to face interviews, the study collected information from 332 consumers in 8 supermarkets, and 4 open markets in Yangon city. Our results informed that most of the respondents in both markets have a positive WTP for an increase in each attribute. The supermarket respondents paid attentions to food safety labels, and it had the highest MWTP 2067.170 MMK (1.53 USD) relative to the other attributes. Our results suggest that policymakers and producers must enhance consumers’ knowledge of what is an eco-product and how to differentiate it in the market place and emphasize the improvement of food safety certification programs.