Awareness, perceptions and willingness to pay for pro vitamin a Garri: evidence from IDO local government of Oyo state, Nigeria

Efforts made to combat vitamin A deficiency are a crucial feat for public health services dealing with vulnerable people in developing nations. Therefore, this study examined the awareness, perceptions and willingness to pay for pro-vitamin-A garri in Oyo state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used to collect data from 150 sampled respondents. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the double-hurdle model. The results revealed that while ca. 47.5% of the respondents are aware of the availability of pro-vitamin-A garri, the levels of awareness are low. However, 67.3% of the consumers are aware of pro-vitamin- A garri thanks to agricultural extension agents, radio and friends. The maximum, minimum and average amount the consumers were willing to pay per kilogram of pro-vitamin- A garri was NGN 500 (USD 1.39), NGN 160 (USD 0.44) and NGN 220.08 (USD 0.61), respectively. The double-hurdle model showed that income, other income streams and awareness exerted a significant and positive influence on the consumers’ willingness to pay for pro-vitamin-A garri. Similarly, education and radio-induced awareness significantly and positively influenced the amount they were willing to pay per kilogram of pro-vitamin-A garri. Conversely, household size had a significant negative influence. The study advocates for nutrition education as an important tool in communicating the nutritional and health benefits of bio-fortified crops.