Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

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Consumer preference for novelty in processed foods: a developing country perspective
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2019) Alphonce, Roselyne; Mamuya Waized, Betty; Nylandsted Larsen, Marianne
Purpose – The paper aims to explore consumer preferences for novel and other quality attributes in processed foods. It focuses on preferences for product origin, certification on food quality and standards and tradeoffs between novelty (fortification and highly processed) and other quality attributes. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 317 consumers were randomly selected at a high-end supermarket and a traditional local market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Stated and revealed preference approaches were used to investigate their preferences for different attributes in processed foods. A hypothetical choice experiment was used to assess consumer preference for six baby food attributes and the tradeoffs between the attributes, while the revealed preference method included questions on consumer’s actual processed food purchasing and consumption habits. In addition, consumers were asked a series of hierarchical questions assessing the motivation underpinning their choices for different products attributes. Findings – When making choices for processed food attributes, consumers are reluctant to choose novel technologies and have a strong preference for natural, nutritious, tasty and quality processed food attributes. However, they are willing to forego their preference for naturalness and to overcome their reluctance to trying novel technologies when the novelty is embedded with such quality benefits as nutrition, but not so when the embedded benefit is convenience. They are also willing to trade off their preference for nutrition for a sensory taste. This suggests that micronutrient deficiencies can be reduced among women and children under five by employing the appropriate strategies in processed food formulation. Further, the preference for product origin highlights the opportunity for national brands to fill the gap created by the increasing demand for processed foods in Tanzania. Research limitations/implications – The study claims a developing country perspective but is only representing consumers in one city in a developing country. However, this study speculates that consumers with representative characteristics in such context are likely to behave the same. Furthermore, although this study controlled for a hypothetical bias, having a hypothetical choice experiment with non-shoppers (non purchasers) could have triggered the hypothetical bias, making participants concentrate more on non-price than price attributes. Originality/value – The paper offers a developing country perspective on consumers’ preferences for novelty in processed foods and tradeoffs with other quality attributes.
Consumer vs. Citizen willingness to pay for restaurant food safety
(ELSEVIER, 2014) Alphonce, Roselyne; Alfnes, Frode; Amit, Sharma
Individuals may display different preferences for food regulations when acting as a voting citizen than as a buying consumer. In this paper, we examine whether such a duality exists between citizens and consumers in the willingness to pay for food safety standards in restaurants. Using a split-sample willingness to pay survey, we find that individuals exhibit a higher willingness to pay for improved food safety standards in restaurants when acting as voting citizens than as buying consumers. Relying on consumer studies that focus on the buying context may therefore underestimate the support found among the public for new food regulations. This finding is important for policy makers using consumer studies in decision support and for researchers attempting to understand individual preferences
Consumer willingness to pay for food safety in Tanzania: an incentive-aligned conjoint analysis
(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2012) Alphonce, Roselyne; Alfnes, Frode
In this paper, we present results from a consumer experiment in Tanzania focusing on food safety. We elicit consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for tomatoes that have been inspected by health officials to meet the standards set by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards. We also elicit consumers’ WTP for tomato attributes that can be associated with different food safety standards: conventional vs. organically produced and various origins. Two hundred sixty-nine urban consumers from Morogoro, Tanzania took part in the experiment where they evaluated tomatoes using the Becker–deGroot–Marschak mecha nism. The results show that on average, consumers in Tanzania are willing to pay a premium for inspected and organically produced tomatoes. Consumers have a strong preference for tomatoes produced in Tanzania and do not discount tomatoes produced in areas associated with poor agricultural practices. However, consumers do significantly discount tomatoes imported from South Africa.
Consumption of processed food & food away from home in big cities, small towns, and rural areas of Tanzania
(WILEY, 2021) Sauer, Christine M; Reardon, Thomas; Tschirley, David; Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda; Awokuse, Titus; Alphonce, Roselyne; Ndyetabula, Daniel; Waized, Betty
We study household consumption of various categories of processed food, includ ing ultra-processed food and meals away from home in Tanzania. We compare peri-urban versus hinterland rural areas, and large cities versus small towns. Three sets of findings stand out. (1) Contrary to the common view in Africa that processed food is mainly an urban middle-class phenomenon, we found it has penetrated the diets of the rural areas and the rural and urban poor. In rural areas, surprisingly 60% of food consumption comes from purchases in value terms, and processed food accounts for 76% of purchases and 47% of all food consumed. For the rural poor, purchased processed food is 38% of food consumption. In urban areas processed food’s share of purchases (hence consumption) is 78%, similar for the rich and poor. (2) We found that ultra-processed food (such as sugar-sweetened beverages and cookies) and meals-away-from-home (MAFH) have emerged as important in urban as well as rural areas. As these foods tend to be high in oil, salt, and sugar, this is a health concern. The share of ultra processed foods and MAFH is 21% in rural areas and 36% in cities albeit twice as high in large cities compared with small towns and among richer compared to poorer consumers. (3) Our regressions show the spread of processed food con sumption in rural and urban areas, among the rich and poor, is driven mainly by opportunity costs of the time of women and men, and thus the pursuit of sav ing home-processing and cooking time, as well as food environment factors. As these drivers are long term trends this suggests processed food consumption will continue to grow
Economic viability of newly introduced chicken strains at village level in Tanzania: FARMSIM model simulation approach
(ELSEVIER, 2019) Makindara, Jeremia; Andrew, Rogers; Mbaga, Said H; Alphonce, Roselyne
A local chicken farming is an integral part of Tanzania's rural economy. However, despite its contributions to household economy and food security, local chicken productivity remains low because of low genetic potential, diseases and poor feeding. One of the options to increase local chicken productivity is the adoption of the chicken strains with high genetic potential. With that respect, Africa Genetic Gain project introduced Sasso and Kuroiler chicken strains for on-farm test purposes. Developmental design involved provision of 25 six weeks old chicks to 20 farmers in 12 sites making a total of 240 farmers in three regions. The study was carried out in Dodoma, Morogoro and Njombe regions to assess the effects of agro-ecological differences in the performance of these strains. The chicks were vaccinated against Mareks and Newcastle diseases at the hatchery; then against Infectious Bronchitis (IB) at 0, 7 10, 16 and 21 days. The Newcastle Disease vaccine was repeated after 10 and 21 days using LaSota vaccine. After 6 weeks, the chicks were again vaccinated against fowl pox ready for supply to farmers. A farm Simulation Model (FARMSIM) and Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to Function (SERF) were applied to access economic viability of these strains relative to local chickens. FARMSIM is a Monte Carlo Simulation Model that simultaneously evaluates a baseline and an alternative farming technology. To simulate using FARMSIM, Simulation and Econometrics to Analyse Risk (Simetar©), an excel add-in is needed as a simulating engine. Data were obtained through survey, farmers' records and simulation exercises. The results indicate that keeping Sasso strain was the most economically viable with the highest Net Present Value, Net Cash Farm Income and the highest probability of attaining economic return. Kuroiler was the second, followed by keeping local chickens without supplement and local chicken with supplement was the least economically viable enterprise. However, inclusion of risk behaviour revealed that extremely risk-averse farmers preferred mostly keeping local chickens without supplement whereas extremely risk loving farmers preferred the most Sasso strain. It is recommended that the introduced chicken strains should be promoted to increase household income and improve people's livelihoods. However, scaling up of the introduced chicken strains must be integrated with education on technical know-how for good farming practices, feed formulations, medication and shelter for improved productivity and reduced variability.
Eliciting consumer willingness to pay for food quality' attributes: experiments conducted in Tanzania, Norway and the US
(Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2014-11) Alphonce, Roselyne
In measuring consumer preference and willingness to pay for product attributes, many things matter, among them context and choice of methods. This thesis focuses on (1) assessing preference for food quality attributes in different context (all papers) and (2) comparison of results from different methods (paper 2 and 3). The thesis includes data collected in four different experiments in three countries: Tanzania (paper 1 and 2), US (paper 3) and Norway (paper 4). The thesis contributes to the literature on consumer preference studies in Africa, Europe and the US, on experimental valuation methods related to food in Africa, and to the duality literature on preference for food safety standards in restaurants. The four papers should be read independently. The first paper assess the willingness to pay for food safety related attributes in an artefactual field experiment in Tanzania. The paper finds that consumers in Tanzania are concerned with food safety, and the results arc consistent across low and high-income consumers, and across both genders. Men generally have a higher willingness to pay for the food products, however women are willing to pay more for food safety related attributes. Preference for food safety does not however translate into preferences for origins associated with better agricultural practices, meaning consumer probably do not associate origin with safety but rather with other attributes like sustainability or taste. For example, in the study consumers show royalty towards their country and antipathy towards South Africa. In paper 2, we compare four different experimental valuation methods that can be conducted with one respondent at a time in a traditional African food market. The traditional way of conducting food preference studies was through surveys, but in the past two decades there has been a growing literature using lab and field experiments in Europe and the US. In these experiments, products arc evaluated and sold using various non-market valuations techniques. Studies using the different experimental methods have also started to emerge in developing countries. However due to technological, logistical and literacy related challenges, implementing most of these methods can be challenging in lab and field experiments in developing countries. Therefore, we select four non-market valuation methods that arc relatively easy to explain, have a dominant strategy that is not difficult to understand, that are quick to implement, and that can be conducted one-on-one. We then compare the willingness to pay, the efficiency of the methods, and the easiness in explaining and understanding the methods. The paper finds consistent results across all the four methods. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for organic and food-safcty-inspcctcd tomatoes. However, the size of the premium differs between valuation methods where the consumers choose between alternatives, and non-comparativc methods were the consumers indicate their willingness to pay. Due to the easiness in conducting the experiments and efficiency of the measurements, we recommend the use of the price list methods. In paper 3, we investigate whether a consumer-citizen duality exists in the willingness to pay for food safety standards in restaurants. Relying on consumer studies focusing on the buying context to advice on public issues may underestimate the actual support for public regulations. Studies addressing the consumer-citizen duality have mainly been in the environmental economics, and this is one of the first to investigate a possible consumer-citizen duality in consumer preferences for food products. We find that the duality does exist in the willingness to pay for food safety standards in restaurants. Voting citizens exhibit higher willingness to pay for improved food safety standards in restaurants than buying consumers. Paper 4 is a consumer preference study involving both preference for sensory and credence attributes. The paper mainly aims at making recommendations to producers in Africa, trying to position value-added products for maximum revenue from Europe. Despite the significant contribution of studies on organic, fair-trade and country-of-origin, there is still limited understanding on attributes that are most likely to add value to products like dried fruits exported to Europe. To be able to advice African producers about European consumer preferences, we investigate sensory attributes driving consumer preference and assess the willingness to pay for dried fruits with and without credence attributes in Norway. We also use a hierarchical approach to identify factors driving choices for specific product origins. The study finds that naturalness is preferred over uniform taste, and fruit aroma is the most driving factor for the liking of the products, and that extreme hardness and acidity were the most rejected attributes. On the other hand, consumers were cither attracted by a sweet taste or by an acidic/sour taste. Consumers were also willing to pay a premium for dried fruits with an organic and fair-trade label, but favored fair-trade the most. We identify three consumer segments, two with distinct reasons for preferring a country-of-origin and a third one indifferent to the origin of the dried fruits.
Eliciting Consumer WTP for Food Characteristics in a Developing Context: Application of Four Valuation Methods in an African Market
(WILEY, 2016) Alphonce, Roselyne; Frode, Alfnes
We elicit willingness to pay for conventional, organic and/or food-safety-inspected tomatoes in a traditional African food market. We identify four elicitation methods that can be conducted with one respondent at a time, and use them in a field setting: the Becker–DeGroot–Marschak mechanism, multiple price lists, multiple price lists with stated quantities, and real-choice experiments. All four methods give sim ilar results; showing that consumers are willing to pay a premium for organic and food-safety-inspected tomatoes. However, the size of the premium is significantly larger when consumers choose between alternatives than when they indicate their reservation price. The new multiple price lists with stated quantities were easy to explain in the busy market setting, gave the respondents the opportunity to deter mine the amount they wanted to buy, and had valuations in line with the other non-comparative valuation methods
Ending rural hunger: the case of Tanzania
(2017) Alphonce, Roselyne
Ending hunger is an ambition formally enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adopted by all 193 member countries of the United Nations. This report looks at Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2), which focuses on ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Specifically, the report focuses on the rural population in mainland Tanzania, which accounts for 70 percent of the total population, 75 percent of the undernourished, and 80 percent of the hungry people in Tanzania. The goal to end rural hunger is truly about promoting transformational change in local food and agricultural systems, food distribution, quality and quantity of food produced, as well as sustainable consumption (Kharas et al., 2015). Success will not come easily, but there has already been some progress as the government is making some commitment of resources in agriculture like increasing the use of imputes such as fertilizer by reducing price fluctuations through fertilizer bulk purchase program. To achieve the SDG2 targets, policymakers must shift away from erratic political attention and inadequate measurement of the relevant issues such as: access to food; quality of food in terms of protein, micronutrients, and vitamin content; access to finance; access to land for crop production; access to water; and access to agriculture input markets for a sustained, strategic, and evidence-based commitment to food and nutrition security (FNS). This shift requires a systematic and quantitative assessment of countries’ progress towards achieving FNS (which includes addressing food access, malnutrition levels, and the agriculture productivity gap), and an assessment on how well countries put relevant strategies (policies) and adequate investments (resources) in place. In Tanzania, access to food, nutritional needs, the agricultural productivity gap, and vulnerability to environmental shocks are among the top threats to FNS, especially in rural areas. Based on National Panel Set dataset wave 3, a significant proportion of the Tanzanian population suffers from undernourishment, low average dietary energy intake, and poverty. The urban-rural difference is stark as rural areas fare much worse: Undernourishment (29.5 percent versus 39.3 percent), low average dietary energy (31.1 percent versus 33.9 percent1 ), and poverty (8.5 percent versus 26.7 percent) are relatively higher in rural areas (NBS, 2014). Equally important, 1 The figure is measured as a percentage of population having that problem in urban and rural areas. ii access to food and a lack of nutritional awareness are major obstacles facing the country, as they lead to the intake of an unbalanced diet. As a result, high rates of malnutrition are observed in the population, especially among children under five, leading the country to have above-average malnutrition rates compared to other countries in the region (NBS, 2014). The country strategy to achieve SDG2 is embedded in various national policies, development plans, and strategies. Specifically, Tanzania has initiated the following strategies: the Agricultural Sector Development Program (ASDP I & II, 2006-2020); the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP); the Tanzania Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP); Big Results Now (BRN); the Tanzania Development Vision (TDV 2025) embedded under Tanzania’s five-year development plans (FYDP: FYDP I; FYDP II 2016-2020 (nurturing and industrial economy) and FYDP III-2021/22-2025/26 (realizing competitiveness-led export growth); the CCM2 Manifesto; and the National Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (NMNAP) 2016-2021. Achieving SDG2 not only requires implementing relevant strategies but also adequate and sustainable funding. Many of the agriculture sector development programs in Tanzania are not allocated sufficient funds and rely heavily on donor funding. For example, in the past 10 years, less than 8 percent3 of the national budget was invested in the sector, and out of the invested funds 40 percent were government contributions and 60 percent donor funding (CARE, 2015). Inadequate funding to the sector affects transfer of technology, improvement of infrastructure, supply of inputs, and access to capital and markets, which in turn discourages production—hence hindering efforts to eradicate hunger by 2030. Furthermore, donor-funded programs, especially those outside of budget support, are often period specific and sometimes lack exit strategies (URT, 2016). To hurdle the effect of low funding, achieve SDG2 and eventually improve the state of FNS in Tanzania, four priority areas needs to be observed closely and deliberate efforts made to them: First, increase access to food through (a) improving food distribution by investing in improving road networks (both rural and feeder roads); (b) providing education on food utilization and quality through campaigns that emphasize in the importance of the inclusion of the different food groups, especially for pregnant women and children; (c) increasing social marketing campaign aimed at farmers on the importance of soil nutrition and growing different food groups and bio-fortified crops to ensure a healthy diet; and (d) creating a social marketing campaign aimed at small-scale food 2 CCM stands for Chama Cha Mapinduzi, the ruling party. 3 The figure presents the percentage of the national budget including donor funds channeled through budget funding. iii processors on food fortification to improve food nutritional quality. Second, reduce vulnerability to environmental shocks in rural areas by increasing the capacity of small-holder farmers to exploit the vast irrigation potential available in the country by constructing shared irrigation schemes. Third, build the productive capacity of the agriculture sector to sustainably address and maintain long-term food security. And, finally, enhance the budget allocated to the agriculture sector.
European consumer preference for African dried fruits
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015) Alphonce, Roselyne; Temu, Anna; Almli, Valérie Lengard
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess European consumer preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for tropical dried fruits from Africa. The paper specifically investigates sensory and credence characteristics driving consumer preferences. Design/methodology/approach – Data on sensory descriptive analysis and hedonic evaluation for seven samples representing three fruit types: mango, pineapple and banana, were collected together with data on Country of Origin (COO) preferences and WTP for conventional, organic and fair-trade labelled dried fruits, among Norwegian consumers (n ¼ 96). Findings – The results show that consumer preferences for a dried fruit are affected significantly by its typical aroma intensity and consumers are willing to pay a premium for both organic and fair-trade products. Two consumer groups expressing distinct COO preferences for tropical dried fruits and a third group with no country preferences are revealed. Originality/value – This study provides useful insights for dried fruit producers and market strategists in tropical countries attempting to position value-added products for maximum revenue.
Social-economic impact of smallholder free range local chicken (frlc) improved husbandry system: A case study of Rural Morogoro
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2007) Alphonce, Roselyne
Ways and means to improve free range local chicken (FRLC) production have been studied in Tanzania, however the economic contribution of the improved FRLC production is still unknown. Hence, this study investigated on the impact of the free-range local chicken production improvement program on farmers' Socio-cconomy. Specifically, the study aimed at: (i) evaluating the socio-economic characteristics influencing the interventions, (ii) evaluating the impact of the interventions on the level of knowledge, attitude and practices that respondents acquired for enhancing FRLC productivity, and (iii) exploring the intervention effects on smallholders’ FRLC productivity. The study used both primary and secondary data, and a random sample of project respondents were interviewed with a corresponding number of non-project respondents as a control group. Then both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. The study concludes that the interventions had no significant impact not only on the FRLC production but also on the farmer’s socio-economy. However, the project participants had increased their total household income by 0.5% due to the increased production in FRLC and eggs. Also, the interventions had a statistical significant impact on; the practices towards disease control and breeding; the change of knowledge in Feeding, disease control and breeding; and on the change in FRLC management practices. Education, income, cropping pattern and FRLC farm-gate price were the characteristics, which affected the adoption of the interventions (P<0.05). While inputs on disease control were the most economical, inputs on other aspects showed a decrease in net-return. The study recommends that the farmer’s socio-economic status should be considered before the implementation of an intervention. The implication of these findings is that intervention packages should be coupled with economic incentives such as credit facilitation, social-economic groups and market access.

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