Tropentag 2021, September 15 - 17, hybrid conference, Germany "Towards shifting paradigms in agriculture for a healthy and sustainable future"

Role of Trust in Consumer’s Willingness to Eat Reared Crickets in Myanmar

University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Germany

Abstract

Insects are generally considered a valuable source of proteins, fats, and micronutrients. Cricket is one of the most popular insect to be reared. It needs less investment than traditional livestock production and requires less land and water to provide food, jobs, and income opportunities. Cricket rearing can also help to achieve different sustainable development goals. Despite crickets being the most popular edible insect in Myanmar, only very few farmers are rearing them and the rearing business is not thriving yet as in other countries, mainly due to a lack of consumers which are still used to only eat crickets collected in the wild. Thus, this study aimed to identify the effect of the role of trust on the attitude and willingness to consume reared crickets in Myanmar. A sample of 224 respondents from Yangon and Mandalay who have recently eaten wild-harvested crickets was used. Data were collected through telephone interviews. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied for validation, and data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The result revealed that trust in cricket producers significantly influences attitude and consumption intention, whereas trust in retailers did not show a significant effect on both attitude and willingness to eat reared crickets. At the same time, the attitude had a significant relationship with the willingness to consume reared crickets. According to these results, producers should try to build the trust of the public by improving transparency and honesty in the cricket production process such as openly sharing information about how to rear the cricket, how to control and maintain food safety to increase consumers’ interest in reared crickets and thereby to improve acceptance and increase consumption.

Keywords: Acceptance, attitude, confirmatory factor analysis, insect rearing, structural equation modelling, wild harvesting

Contact Address: Myint Thu Thu Aung, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany, e-mail: myintthuthuaunggmail.com