The Development and Promotion of Sweet Potato Yoghurt in Ghana: Implications for Sustainable Production and Consumption Policies

Abstract

This paper analyzes how a newly developed food product (potagurt) with nutritional and health benefits can be promoted in Ghana. We employ the hedonic modeling and contingent valuation methods to estimate monetary values attached to the product's attributes using 400 consumers in the Ashanti, Eastern, and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. The findings reveal that consumers have positive perceptions on the health and nutritional benefits of the product. Buyers place a higher value on potagurt relative to normal yogurt. The high value attached to potagurt is mainly linked to the health, nutritional, food safety, and quality attributes of the product, as well as perception. Consumers' socioeconomic factors such as income, educational, and awareness levels also play a significant role in explaining their choice of the product. The practical implication is that the development and promotion of potagurt could stimulate sustainable economic development through better consumer health and improvement in the livelihoods of many players in the sweet potato value chain, especially the producers of potagurt and sweet potato farmers. We conclude that the promotion of the innovative food product could contribute to sustainable production and consumption of sweet potatoes.

Keywords

consumer willingness to pay; new product development; hedonic pricing

Published in

Sustainability
2020, Volume: 12, number: 8, article number: 3336
Publisher: MDPI

SLU Authors

• Owusu Sekyere, Enoch

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of the Free State

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG2 Zero hunger
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production


UKÄ Subject classification

Economics


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083336

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/106492