Tropentag, September 19 - 21, 2012 in Göttingen "Resilience of agricultural systems against crises"

Analysis of Urban Consumers' Willingness to Pay a Premium for African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) in Kenya: A Case of Eldoret Town

¹Egerton University, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Kenya
²Georg-August-Universität-Göttingen, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Germany

Abstract

Kenya has close to 210 species of African leafy vegetables (ALVs) that have been integrated for use as food by rural families for many generations. The continued dominance of ALVs in the diets of vulnerable rural families resulted to the vegetables being regarded as poor man's food given that exotic vegetables connoted civilisation and thus commonly consumed by urban population. However, in the recent past, the demand for ALVs has been increasing as a result of urbanisation, emergence of supermarkets, change of dietary habits and increased awareness about its value. Furthermore, they are pertinent in view of the fact that they are resilient enough to thrive in poor soils and well-suited to the small plots especially with the current increasing costs of production, demographic pressure and environmental degradation. This study surveyed 204 urban consumers in Eldoret Town of Kenya to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for African leafy vegetables (ALVs) and the underlying determinants using the semi-double bounded contingent valuation choice and logit models, respectively. The results show the consumers prefer ALVs than exotic leafy vegetables - on average, ALVs would fetch a premium of 79%; 88% and 70% in open air and supermarkets respectively. Consumers preferred ALVs because they were perceived to be more nutritious than the exotic vegetables. The results also indicate that most consumers were planning to increase their consumption of ALVs in future. The Consumers' WTP a premium was positively influenced by: age, presence of children in the household, years of schooling of the household decision maker and the number of years the consumers have been consuming ALVs. Therefore, greater effort to explore the potential of such vegetables could lead to enhanced agricultural productivity, more-stable vegetable supplies, improved nutrition and higher incomes in rural areas.

Keywords: African leafy vegetable, Consumers' willingness to pay, Kenya, Open air markets, Semi-double bounded contingent valuation, Supermarkets

Contact Address: Philemon Chelang'a, Egerton University, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management, Nakuru, Kenya, e-mail: pchelangyahoo.com