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Retail Market Prices of Fonio Reveal The Demand For Quality Characteristics in Bamako, Mali

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Author Info

  • Dury, S.
  • Meuriot, V.
  • Fliedel, G.
  • Blancher, S.
  • Bore Guindo, F.
  • Drame, D.
  • Bricas, N.
  • Diakite, L.
  • Cruz, J.F.
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    Abstract

    African consumers' expectations concerning the quality of food products are great. In spite of constrained budgets, we showed that market retail prices revealed quality preferences of the consumers and not just production costs. In very poor countries like Mali, food innovation is limited by the very low purchasing power of the population. However, technological food product or process innovations are possible and sometimes valuable. Demand driven innovation may lead to open new markets, opportunities for small and medium scale enterprises and to improve consumers' welfare. Based on this assumption, technical research was done to provide new food products. In this paper, we used both sensory tests and a hedonic price approach, to estimate the consumers' demand for different characteristics of fonio, a West African cereal, and showed that poor consumers have quality requirements and pay for them. We showed that the shadow price or hedonic price paid for quality characteristics is small but significant. A comparison between sensory tests and a market study showed a convergence between what people say they prefer and what they really pay for. Results were consistent and showed directions for technological improvement of the product and its production process. The partial least square method was used to estimate hedonic prices of the different modalities of fonio quality traits. This method was interesting since it solved the ordinary least square method's colinearity problems. ...French Abstract : Les attentes des consommateurs africains concernant la qualité de l'alimentation sont importantes malgré des budgets très contraints. Nous montrons ici que les prix de marchés révèlent des préférences qualitatives et non seulement des coûts de production. Dans des pays très pauvres comme le Mali, l'innovation technologique est limitée par le très faible pouvoir d'achat de la population. Cependant les innovations technologiques sont possibles et parfois payantes. L'innovation en réponse à une demande peut permettre d'ouvrir de nouveaux marchés, de donner des opportunités aux petites et moyennes entreprises et d'améliorer le bien-être des consommateurs. Sur la base de cette hypothèse, la recherche technologique s'applique à fournir de nouveaux produits. Dans cet article, en utilisant à la fois des tests de dégustation et une analyse des prix hédoniques, nous estimons la demande des consommateurs pour différentes caractéristiques du fonio, une céréale d'Afrique de l'Ouest. Nous montrons que des consommateurs pauvres ont des exigences de qualité et paient de fait pour les satisfaire. Nous montrons que les prix hédoniques ou shadow prices payés pour les caractéristiques qualitatives sont faibles mais significatifs. La comparaison des tests sensoriels et de l'étude de marché montre une convergence entre ce que les gens disent et ce pour quoi ils paient réellement. Les résultats sont cohérents et montrent des directions pour l'amélioration technologique des produits et des procédés de transformation. La méthode des moindres carrés ordinaires a été utilisée pour l'estimation des prix hédoniques des différentes modalités des attributs de qualité du fonio. Cette méthode est intéressante car elle résout les problèmes de colinéarité.

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    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by UMR MOISA : Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs : CIHEAM-IAMM, CIRAD, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, IRD - Montpellier, France in its series Working Papers MOISA with number 200706.

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    Date of creation: 2007
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    Handle: RePEc:umr:wpaper:200706

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    Keywords: FONIO; CEREAL; QUALITY; HEDONIC PRICES; PLS METHOD; EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION;

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    1. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    2. Sanogo, Diakalia & Masters, William A., 2002. "A market-based approach to child nutrition: mothers' demand for quality certification of infant foods in Bamako, Mali," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 251-268, June.
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