Assessment of consumer acceptance and willingness to pay for induced quality attributes in processed cassava leaves products in Morogoro municipality

Abstract

Consumption of Indigenous vegetables (IVs) in most Sub-Sahara African countries including Tanzania is replaced by exotic varieties/species, regardless of their potential nutritional and economic values. Given this situation, among other IVs, this study was conducted with the aim of assessing consumers‟ acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for processed cassava leaves products. Sensory test together with a consumer survey of 110 randomly selected respondents was conducted in Morogoro Municipality from November to December 2012, using a structured questionnaire. Double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (CVM) was employed to elicit consumers‟ WTP information. Major reasons outlined by respondents for not regularly consuming cassava leaves were: inconvenience in usage (65%) and health related risk associated with the vegetable (29%). Compared with fresh leaves, respondents rated processed cassava leaves significantly (p=0.05) higher for aroma, texture and general appearance attributes while dried leaves had the lowest score for colour attribute. Estimated mean WTP from restricted binary logit model were TZS 664.4/100g and 1681.4/100g for frozen and dried leaves package respectively; and TZS 289.23 for a bundle of fresh leaves. This implies that, consumers were willing to pay premiums for both dried and frozen leaves of 12% and 66.1% respectively and a discount of 3.6% for fresh leaves. The findings also show that age, income, gender, and household size significantly affected consumers‟ WTP for cassava leaves products. Accordingly, colour, aroma, and general appearance of the cassava leaves products statistically influenced consumers‟ WTP. Generally, consumers accepted the processed frozen and dried to fresh cassava leaves. Based on the study findings, opportunities for products development from cassava leaves to improve market potential through processing are available and are to be exploited.