Assessing producers’ perceptions of protecting coffee and apple mangoes as geographical indications in Kenya

Consumers are increasingly demanding for information on product quality, methods and characteristics of geographical region of production. As such, protecting unique products as geographical indications is on the increase. Geographical indications identify a product as originating from a region where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic desired by consumers, is essentially or exclusively attributable to its geographical origin. Having the legal legislation is necessary but not sufficient factor in protection of products as geographical indications (GI). Other essential factors include the producers’ awareness of the uniqueness and willingness to register the product for protection and marketing. Their perceived benefits and other characteristics will influence their decision to register the product as a GI. The study sought to understand underlying variables describing producers’ perceptions of the quality of coffee in Muranga and mango in Makueni as potential geographical indications. At least 132 producers randomly sampled were interviewed in each county using semi-structured questionnaires. The study applied factor analysis to summarise producers’ perceptions and regressed the resulting factors against a set of explanatory variables to determine factors influencing these perceptions. Six and five underlying variable (factors) were identified for coffee and mango producers’ perceptions respectively. The factors explained at least 75.3% and 71.5% of the variance in the original variables for coffee and mango producers’ perceptions respectively. The regression results with varying Fstatistics showed the importance of conducting specific analysis for each product in each region to identify the potential for protecting the products as GI.