ปัจจัยที่มีผลต่อความเต็มใจจ่ายของผู้บริโภคต่อเนื้อสุกรอินทรีย์ในอำเภอเมือง จังหวัดเชียงใหม่

Abstract

The present study has the objectives to assess the potential price of organic pork that consumers in Chiang Mai Province are willing to pay for the purchase in comparison with the price of ordinary pork, and to perform an analysis on the factors determining such willingness to pay. Totally 370 samples of consumer were approached for the survey on their willingness to pay for buying organic pork based on contingent valuation method. The Tobit regression Model was applied for measuring the willingness to pay and finding out the primary determinants of the willingness to pay. The survey on consumers’ knowledge regarding organic foods revealed that their knowledge and understanding about organic foods were at relatively low levels compared to what they knew and understood about other kinds of safe food. Although the consumers under this study had got some information involving organic foods from magazines, books, or health related journals in the aspects of organic produce and product being environmentally friendly, chemical contamination in conventional foods, and the popularized consumers’ attentiveness to consumption for health benefits, they appeared to have limited knowledge about organic agriculture and organic produce/food certification and certificates. The organic produce/food they were most familiar with was organic vegetables. As for factors affecting consumers’ decision to buy organic foods, the investigation found that the psychological element was indicated most predominantly by the questionnaire respondents as a factor making them buy organic pork, followed by product, personal, and socio-economic considerations, in descending order. However, the minor factor contributing the most to the demand for organic pork purchase and consumption was found to be the obvious price label or sign which is an attribute of the product factor. The results of Tobit Model application disclosed that the primary determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay were education, employment in government agency and state enterprise, employment in private sector, product brand, food choice based on health benefit consideration, and the place selling organic pork. Furthermore, the measured willingness to pay suggests that consumers in general are willing to pay an additional 5.38 baht per kilogram on top of the ongoing price of ordinary pork for the purchase of organic pork