Analysis on Banana Consumers' Attitudes : Exploring Farmers' Local Markets in Response to Exports Restrictions in Mozambique

概要

Banana is the third major produced fruit in Manica, central Province of Mozambique, just after avocado and litchi. In 2020, 86% of its production in the country was exported. Following the restrictions on exporting fruits, established in 2008 and following years, due to fruit fly invasive pest in the country, large farmers had to share local markets with the already weakened small ones for local consumers. However, even after lifting the exportation restrictions, an understanding of local fruits (banana) consumers’ attitudes is crucial, as it can contribute on the prevention of the similar market ‘‘disturbance’’ or ‘‘unfair’’ competition in the near future. In this research, a Multinomial Logit Model (MLM) approach is used to analyze the banana consumers’ attitudes in Chimoio, a capital city of Manica, and central province of Mozambique. Using a structured questionnaire, 234 consumers were interviewed (retrieved from approximately 372,821 people living in the city, according to 2017 National Census), in July, 2017 and data analyzed at SPSS 16.0. The sample was characterized as having : 58.5% of female and 41.5% of male ; 73.3% were at the age of 21 to 40 years old ; 72.7% were enrolled or finished either High School or University and 51.3% practiced remunerable activities. Six categories of banana price were set and used as dependent variable. Using the conventional α=0.05 threshold, the following predictors (independent variables) : age, gender, education, occupation/ remuneration status, selling place, buying criteria and ripping stage were found significant, while the consumption frequency, type of banana and price evaluation were not, although this last was found ‘‘near significant’’ (α=0.069). The model suggests that the buying/selling place is the major predictor variable, however data findings suggests that lower prices (corresponding to lower banana quantities) are more likely to be found in local informal markets. Consumers with the tendency of having higher education are less likely to buy banana at lower prices. Occupation/performing remunerable activities were also found as major predictors, however their influence decreases at higher prices. At higher prices , all predictors (variables) become less likely to influence consumers’ attitudes towards banana consumption, which might suggest that more research should be done for this market segment, either in Chimoio or other cities in Mozambique, as their findings might suggest other consumers’ attitudes and/or behavior, information that can be crucial in policy development, aiming to link small farmers with the markets.

Keywords : Consumers’ attitudes; Local markets; Multinomial Logit; Chimoio; Mozambique