Economic analysis of consumer choices based on rice attributes in the food markets of West Africa—the case of Benin

The focus of this study was to investigate consumer preferences for various attributes of rice marketed in Benin. Consumer choice theory postulates that products are consumed not for themselves, but for the characteristics they possess that satisfy consumers’ greater liking of one attribute over another. In the case of rice, quality attributes, as incentives for both producers and consumers, have important price implications. In this study, we empirically analyzed the relationship between the price paid by consumers for their choice of rice and its attributes in the markets of Benin using hedonic pricing and discrete choice models of demand. We used data collected from rice-consuming households in four major provinces of Benin, in both rural and urban areas, during 2006. The results of this econometric estimation indicated that there was considerable variability in consumer preferences for different rice attributes across the regions studied. Nevertheless, consumers paid a premium price for observable attributes, such as grain size and breakage. In addition, both urban and rural consumers preferred imported and parboiled rice to domestic and raw rice. The study results showed that implicit prices paid by consumers for both domestic and imported rice were based on quality attributes. These findings have important implications for future breeding programs aimed at making domestic rice more competitive with imported rice.     

Smallholder dairy sheep production and market channel development: An institutional perspective of rural Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

The rural economy of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been adapting to new economic and political realities. Especially important for rural areas has been the breakdown of the socialist market structure in agriculture, which meant the demise of cooperative structures and farmers gaining access to new market outlets. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential of dairy sheep farmers to enter into new contracts with buyers and to analyze why some farmers continue selling to traditional market outlets. Using survey data of dairy sheep farmers we studied the choice they make between 3 market outlets: (1) selling milk to a recently established large dairy processor, (2) selling milk to traditional small local processors, or (3) transforming milk on-farm into cheese and selling it at the farm gate or at local markets. The significance of determinants of choice for these markets were tested in a multinomial logit model, which showed that distance to the collection point of the large dairy processor was the most important determinant of whether farmers sold milk or made cheese, with those at a greater distance selling cheese. Furthermore, we analyzed the main sources of transaction costs in developing new market channels. Overcoming transport and transaction costs may contribute to higher income for the farmers and hence to improving their livelihoods.     

Milk marketing policy options for the dairy industry in New England

New England dairy farmers are under intense price pressure resulting from important growth in milk production from lower cost of production Southwest states as well as by retailers’ market power. Agricultural officials and legislative bodies in New England and in other Northeast US states are aware of these pressures and have been reacting with emergency dairy farm aid, following a very low 2006 milk price, and with state legislations in an attempt to address perceived excess retailing margins for fluid milk. In this paper, we suggest that a sigmoid demand relationship exists for fluid milk. This demand relationship would explain fluid milk asymmetric price transmission, high-low pricing, and the creation of a large retailing margin (chain surplus) often observed for fluid milk. It is also argued that a sigmoid demand relationship offers an opportunity for state legislators to help Northeast dairy farmers capturing a larger share of the dollar of the consumers through various policy options. Therefore, 5 milk market channel regulatory mechanisms (status quo, price gouging, supply control, fair share policy, and chain surplus return) are discussed and compared. The supply control mechanism was found the most effective at redistributing the chain surplus, associated with the sigmoid demand relationship for fluid milk, to dairy farmers. However, this option is unlikely to be politically acceptable in the United States. Second-best options for increasing dairy farmers’ share of the consumers’ dollar are the fair price policy and the chain surplus return. The former mechanism would distribute the chain surplus between retailers, processors, and farmers, whereas the latter would distribute it between consumers, retailers, and farmers. Remaining mechanisms would either transfer the chain surplus to retailers (status quo) or to consumers (price gouging).     

Farmers’ response to soaring food prices in the Arab region

Sharp increases in food commodity prices in 2007–2008 led to impacts on food security and poverty worldwide. This paper discusses the impacts on smallholder farmers in six Arab countries that all suffer, to varying degrees, from water scarcity, poverty and food insecurity. The analysis is based on a survey covering more than 1000 rural households in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It examines government responses to the price spike, price transmission from international to local markets, and farmers’ production decisions in response to these price changes. It also discusses how smallholder farmers, given the right policy support, could benefit from new opportunities offered by higher commodity prices. Higher international prices were transmitted to domestic markets in all six countries. The price transmission was high and immediate in countries with the least intervention in food markets. In countries with more interventions on imports and/or domestic food prices, the connection between international and domestic prices was generally low. The ability of smallholder farmers to benefit from higher domestic prices was limited by various factors: drought, higher input prices (especially fertilizer), and the timing of the price increases in relation to the crop cycle. The study makes several recommendations to enable smallholder farmers to better respond to market signals. These include better timing of announcement of policy decisions regarding price supports, better access to credit, safety nets to protect the poorest households, improved management of water resources, and simple financial instruments to protect against price volatility.     

城市"商业下乡"与启动农村消费

随着农副产品市场向城市转移和购销营运链的延长,商业的前沿地位已经越来越重要。启动农村消费的关键-增加农民收入在很大程度上取决于农副产品的市场实现程度,降低农民的消费成本则与创新农村商品供给制度紧密相关。因此,城市“商业下乡”是实现城市经济对周边农村经济发展的带动作用、启动农村消费的重要途径。     

Prospects for sustainability of pig production in relation to climate change and novel feed resources

Pig production systems provide multiple benefits to humans. However, the global increase in meat consumption has profound consequences for our earth. This perspective describes two alternative scenarios for improving the sustainability of future pig production systems. The first scenario is a high input–high output system based on sustainable intensification, maximizing animal protein production efficiency on a limited land surface at the same time as minimizing environmental impacts. The second scenario is a reduced input–reduced output system based on selecting animals that are more robust to climate change and are better adapted to transform low quality feed (local feeds, feedstuff co-products, food waste) into meat. However, in contrast to the first scenario, the latter scenario results in reduced predicted yields, reduced production efficiency and possibly increased costs to the consumer. National evaluation of the availability of local feed and feedstuff co-product alternatives, determination of limits to feed sourced from international markets, available land for crop and livestock production, desired production levels, and a willingness to politically enforce policies through subsidies and/or penalties are some of the considerations to combine these two scenarios. Given future novel sustainable alternatives to livestock animal protein, it may become reasonable to move towards an added general premium price on ‘protein from livestock animals’ to the benefit of promoting higher incomes to farmers at the same time as covering the extra costs of, politically enforced, welfare of livestock animals in sustainable production systems. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Global food markets,trade and the cost of climate change adaptation

Achieving food security in the face of climate change is a major challenge for humanity in the 21st century but comprehensive analyses of climate change impacts, including global market feedbacks are still lacking. In the context of uneven impacts of climate change across regions interconnected through trade, climate change impact and adaptation policies in one region need to be assessed in a global framework. Focusing on four Eastern Asian countries and using a global integrated modeling framework we show that i) once imports are considered, the overall climate change impact on the amount of food available could be of opposite sign to the direct domestic impacts and ii) production and trade adjustments following price signals could reduce the spread of climate change impacts on food availability. We then investigated how pressure on the food system in Eastern Asia could be mitigated by a consumer support policy. We found that the costs of adaptation policies to 2050 varied greatly across climate projections. The costs of consumer support policies would also be lower if only implemented in one region but market price leakage could exacerbate pressure on food systems in other regions. We conclude that climate adaptation should no longer be viewed only as a geographically isolated local problem.     

Welfare analysis of changing food prices: a nonparametric examination of rice policies in India

The paper examines the welfare impact of the Indian government’s rice price policies in the light of the global food crisis of 2007–08 using a nonparametric approach for regression and density estimation. In particular, the impact of a ban on export of rice and increased farm gate price support for farmers, implemented to keep domestic consumer prices lower and producer prices higher than they would otherwise have been, was analysed. The net impact of the export ban was positive, as it was able to cushion the Indian population (84 % of whom are net consumers of rice) from the adverse effects of the crisis. However, the extent of welfare varied among different household types, as the poor in India are heterogeneous in nature. Thus agriculture-price policies do not have a homogenous effect on the poor in India. The majority of rice-producing farmers are relatively poor but benefitted from the increase in farm gate prices. Poor households that did not cultivate rice were the worst affected in the food crisis, as their budget share of rice is higher than that of rich households.     

Producer to retailer price transmission in cereal markets of Ethiopia

This paper investigates price transmission between producer and retail prices of teff, wheat, and maize in Amhara and Oromia, the two major cereal markets in Ethiopia. Market and cereal specific asymmetric error correction models were estimated to analyze producer-retail price transmission using monthly data from 2001 to 2011. For seven out of eight crop-market combinations, with the exception of the Amhara wheat market, we found no evidence of asymmetric price transmission from producer to retail prices in the long run. Neither contemporaneous nor long-run price transmission asymmetry was found in either the Amhara or Oromia teff markets. This was also the case for the maize market except that there existed a short-run asymmetric price transmission that disappeared in the long run in Oromia. We therefore conclude that there is no strong empirical evidence to support the purported ‘market power’ or ‘inventory holding’ behaviour in the Ethiopian cereal markets to explain asymmetric vertical price transmission in the long run. The evidence of asymmetric price transmission for the Amhara wheat market, unlike the wheat market in Oromia, may indicate some differential in the quality of infrastructure and the length and complexity of wheat value chains between these two markets. Symmetric price adjustments in these cereal markets suggest that input price changes may have positive long run implications for food security and welfare of the poor in Ethiopia.     

Impacts of the Doha Round framework agreements on dairy policies

Dairy is highly regulated in many countries for several reasons. Perishability, seasonal imbalances, and inelastic supply and demand for milk can cause inherent market instability. Milk buyers typically have had more market power than dairy farmers. Comparative production advantages in some countries have led to regulations and policies to protect local dairy farmers by maintaining domestic prices higher than world prices. A worldwide consensus on reduction of border measures for protecting dairy products is unlikely, and dairy will probably be an exception in ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. Under the Doha Round framework agreements, countries may name some products such as dairy as "sensitive," thereby excluding them from further reforms. However, new Doha Round framework agreements depart from the current WTO rule and call for product-specific spending caps. Such caps will greatly affect the dairy sector because dairy accounts for much of the aggregate measure of support (AMS) in several countries, including the United States and Canada. Also, the amounts of dairy AMS in several countries may be recalculated relative to an international reference price. In addition, all export subsidies are targeted for elimination in the Doha Round, including export credit programs and state trading enterprises, which will limit options for disposing of surplus dairy products in foreign markets. Currently, with higher domestic prices, measures for cutting or disposing of surpluses have been used in many countries. Supply control, which is not regulated by WTO rules, remains as an option. Although explicit export subsidies are restricted by WTO rules, many countries use esoteric measures to promote dairy exports. If countries agree to eliminate "consumer financed" export subsidies using a theoretical definition and measurements proposed herein as Export Subsidy Equivalents (ESE), dairy exports in many countries may be affected. Although domestic supports and export subsidies will be reduced in the Doha Round, possible exclusion of "sensitive" products from tariff reduction will help some countries' dairy sectors survive after those final agreements. A key concern for those countries will be the simultaneous restriction of surplus-disposing measures. With fewer marketing options for surpluses, countries that continue border protection and high internal prices will likely be forced to use domestic supply control programs in the future.     

市场选择与优质食用稻米分级评价标准

从国内外大米市场的稻米价格比较角度,明确食用品质是优质食用稻米品质评价的关键质量指标。分析了我国稻米类标准评价结果与育种、生产和消费对稻米品质选择的符合程度,认为需要通过统一食用品质标准样品、实施评价员资格管理等措施,改进食用品质评价的可操作性,使优质稻米品质评价符合育种和生产现状,满足市场需求。企业可制订食用特性和等级标识引导分类消费,增加市场竞争力。     

Market segmentation of cheese consumers: an approach using consumer's attitudes, purchase behaviour and sociodemographic variables

Market segmentation, as a technique to split a market up into segments in which consumers are as homogeneous as possible, is of great importance for companies, as it allows objective markets to be chosen for the application of differentiated marketing policies. The aim of the present work is the segmentation of the cheese market in Extremadura (SW Spain), using cluster analysis.
The data are taken from a survey of cheese consumers in Extremadura; the items of the survey are related to their cheese consumption habits, and their attitudes and preferences with respect to this product. The analysis distinguished four homogeneous consumer groups with respect to several sociodemographic and consumption behaviour variables that are of great interest for subsequent market interventions.     

基于多地问卷调查的消费者对醋产品偏好之研究

中国食醋市场产品品类众多,该文采用问卷调研的方法了解消费者购买行为,以期揭示其对醋产品的认知对消费偏好的影响。问卷调查采取随机抽样方式,接受调查的人群范围以华北地区为主并辐射全国。通过线上线下相结合的方式共发布调查问卷545份,问卷回收率97.80%,剔除无效问卷,有效率达97.56%。分析结果显示,老陈醋、陈醋和米醋是受访者选择的主流醋产品,果醋、醋饮料、保健醋等产品具有较大的市场潜力;受访者在购买醋时首先考虑口味、价格、品牌、曾经用过和食品安全等因素;选择购买瓶装、壶装和袋装醋的频率最高,产品规格一般在300 mL到1.25 L之间;偏好单价在0.5～5.0元/500 mL之间;受访者会优先选择超市、专卖店以及居所附近的商场或便利店等卖场。     

Cuts and Classification: The Use of Nomenclatures as A Tool for the Reform of the Meat Trade in France, 1850-1880

Reformers seeking to improve the diet of the French working classes in the middle of the 19th century agreed that fresh meat was too expensive for consumers hailing from modest and poor backgrounds. At local markets, the economic parties within the meat industry and municipal authorities strove to limit retail prices by setting an administrative price. In doing so, they faced the difficulty of establishing a just price at the shop level to provide fair remuneration for both livestock producers and butchers. The differentiation and the hierarchic ordering of pieces of meat and their relative prices were the solution to this problem. The introduction of an official, legally-binding nomenclature of meat cuts helped the reformers to overcome the problem of the heterogeneous nature of prices in shops and market stalls. These nomenclatures limited in a regulatory manner the designation of cuts, the attribution of prices, and the forms of transaction. Thus, they contributed to the homogenization of butcher stalls and the widening of the scale of prices for meat available to working-class consumers. The administrative diffusion of meat classifications was performed through meat consumer cooperatives and, somewhat later, veterinary inspectors. A proof of their legitimacy was that the terms were still present at the turn of the 20th century in any good household education manual.     

CUTS AND CLASSIFICATION: THE USE OF NOMENCLATURES AS A TOOL FOR THE REFORM OF THE MEAT TRADE IN FRANCE, 1850-1880

Reformers seeking to improve the diet of the French working classes in the middle of the 19th century agreed that fresh meat was too expensive for consumers hailing from modest and poor backgrounds. At local markets, the economic parties within the meat industry and municipal authorities strove to limit retail prices by setting an administrative price. In doing so, they faced the difficulty of establishing a just price at the shop level to provide fair remuneration for both livestock producers and butchers. The differentiation and the hierarchic ordering of pieces of meat and their relative prices were the solution to this problem. The introduction of an official, legally-binding nomenclature of meat cuts helped the reformers to overcome the problem of the heterogeneous nature of prices in shops and market stalls. These nomenclatures limited in a regulatory manner the designation of cuts, the attribution of prices, and the forms of transaction. Thus, they contributed to the homogenization of butcher stalls and the widening of the scale of prices for meat available to working-class consumers. The administrative diffusion of meat classifications was performed through meat consumer cooperatives and, somewhat later, veterinary inspectors. A proof of their legitimacy was that the terms were still present at the turn of the 20th century in any good household education manual.     

Different shades of grey: Compromise products to encourage animal friendly consumption

Contemporary production and consumption are often characterised by negative externalities, for example regarding animal welfare. Despite consumer concerns about animal welfare standards in livestock production systems, the market share of organic meat is still low. The current paper investigates to what extent a more differentiated product assortment including “compromise alternatives”, providing consumers with more options to trade-off animal welfare against other attributes, increases the choice share of meat produced at beyond-regulatory standards for animal welfare. Results from a choice experiment in The Netherlands reveal considerable heterogeneity in consumer preferences regarding the trade-off between animal welfare level and price level. Two out of six segments, typically consumers with a lower education level and shoppers at discount supermarkets, are not or hardly prepared to pay a price premium for welfare enhanced meat. Two other segments show a preference for small increases in animal welfare level and associated costs. The remaining two other segments seem to reflect “protestors” against mainstream meat production in that they hold negative attitudes, beliefs and feelings regarding the consumption of conventionally-produced meat, either by turning to meat produced at high animal welfare standards (including meat replacement products) or by reducing meat consumption. It is concluded that an assortment that better caters for this heterogeneity in consumer preference by including “compromise meat products” is of the benefit to both the individual consumer (preferences), the animal (animal welfare levels) and the meat sector (clientele).     

Consumer valuation of improved rice parboiling technologies in Benin

In Benin, traditional parboiling is still widely practiced among rice processors, resulting in inferior grain quality. A new parboiler was introduced to improve the milling yield and intrinsic quality of local rice. We conducted Vickrey second price auctions to elicit rural Beninese consumers’ willingness to pay for rice obtained through the new parboiler and two locally innovated parboilers. The individual auctions were followed by a group discussion during which consensus was reached on socially acceptable prices. Relative to traditionally parboiled rice, consumers were willing to pay price premiums of 9-13% for rice obtained through a local parboiler using a container of which the bottom is a perforated metal, 27% for rice obtained through a local parboiler using wooden sticks at the bottom of the pot, and 25-34% for rice parboiled through the improved parboiler. Bids were influenced by the presentation order of the products according to perceived quality. Bids were also higher when participants had been informed on the benefits of improved parboiling techniques, which is a crucial insight for developing marketing and communication strategies for this improved quality product. Group bids were not significantly different from individual bids which suggests that the latter are within the range of socially acceptable prices defined through group consensus.     

Labeling strategies to overcome the problem of niche markets for sustainable milk products: The example of pasture-raised milk

Pasture-raised milk is gaining in importance in some European countries and in the United States. The production of pasture-raised milk is linked to higher costs, as the milk is normally collected and processed separately from conventional barn milk. This could hinder the production of sustainable milk products. We discuss alternative labeling strategies that allow the mixing of pasture-raised (sustainable) and conventional milk to reduce costs and break free from the current niche market. The lower price would allow for more pasture-raised milk to be produced and enter the mainstream market. The aim of this study was to analyze consumers' willingness to pay for alternative labeling types using a discrete choice experiment with 1,065 German milk buyers. The 2 alternative labels, besides the classical labeling approach, are based on the mass balance approach (at least 50% pasture-raised milk in a package) and cause-related marketing (support of farmers who keep their cows on pasture). The discrete choice experiment was combined with a cluster analysis to get a deeper understanding of the buying behavior of the diverse consumer segments for milk. We found that all consumer groups prefer the classical label where products are segregated but also understand the benefits of cause-related marketing. The average consumer was willing to pay €0.50 more for pasture-raised milk certified with the classical label and €0.38 more for pasture-raised milk labeled with a cause-related marketing claim. However, differences between the clusters are strong: The smallest cluster of ethically involved consumers (15%) is willing to pay the highest premiums, especially for the classical label. Cause-related marketing is an interesting alternative for involved buyers under price pressure (41%), whereas the mass balance approach is little understood and thus less valued by consumers. From our results we concluded that cause-related marketing (in our case, the support of pasturing of dairy cows) can be useful for dairies for which it is not efficient to collect and process products separately. This approach is furthermore suitable for reaching consumers who are mainly interested in altruistic issues but at the same time are more price sensitive, as this labeling strategy does not need separate collection and processing and can thereby be marketed at a lower price.     

Comparison of physicochemical characteristics and consumer perception of rice samples with different countries of origin and prices

BACKGROUND: Rice is the only food item which is not liberalized in Korea. To prepare for future liberalization of the rice market in Korea, the physicochemical characteristics and consumer perception of four domestic rice samples were compared with those of 11 foreign rice samples. Additionally, the influences of country of origin (CO) and price on purchase intent (PI) and willingness to pay (WTP) were investigated. RESULTS: Consumer acceptance of rice samples from Japan was generally higher than that of rice samples from other countries. In an informed test, PI was affected by price and CO, while WTP was affected mostly by price. The PI decreased with the price provided while the WTP increased. In a blind test, consumers evaluated PI and WTP according to sensory liking. The PI was higher in the informed test than in the blind test in all domestic samples. Generally, consumer acceptance was highly correlated with fat acidity (r = ? 0.76), protein content (r = ? 0.72), and b value (r = ? 0.64) of the rice samples. CONCLUSION: Further efforts to increase the quality of rice are recommended for survival in the global market after liberalization of rice, even though consumers showed loyalty for PI of domestic samples. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry