Thesis, Undergraduate (BS Agribusiness Economics)--University of the Philippines, Mindanao

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Pesticide residue on fresh produce is a major food safety concern for consumers. If food safety concerns cannot be solely addressed by organic farming, then the development of safe vegetable production may play an important role towards this end. However, developers and adopters of the safe vegetable production must be assured that there is really a high level of food safety concern among Filipino vegetable consumers and that they are willing to pay for safe vegetables. This study aims to fill in the gap of knowledge, awareness and perception of certified safe vegetables as well as examine the viability of producing and marketing certified safe vegetables in Davao City. Also, it aims to identify the attitudes and perceptions of consumers toward certified safe vegetables, as well as WTP price premium, and to determine the factors that affect WTP. The determinants of the consumer decision whether to purchase certified safe vegetables and WTP for certified safe vegetables (e.g. tomato, eggplant, sweet pepper, bitter gourd and cabbage) were analyzed using the binomial logistic regression and Tobit regression, respectively. The results showed that on the average, Davao City consumers are willing to pay P6.00 and P5.50 price premium for certified safe vegetables from wet market and supermarkets, respectively. Consumers who are married, highly educated, and frequently purchasing vegetables at the wet market are more likely to purchase the certified safe vegetables at the wet market. Consumers who are male and have a weekly expense of P300 and below are less likely to purchase the certified safe vegetables at the supermarket.