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• Determinants of consumers’ purchase intention for local organic food in Urban Sri Lanka

  70-78

  S H P Malkanthi

  Views:

  516

  Organic food marketing has currently become one of the most developing markets around the world, including Sri Lanka. Thus, the main aim of this study was to recognize the determinants of the purchase intention for local organic food among urban Sri Lankans. A consumer survey was conducted covering capital cities of six urban districts in Sri Lanka; Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Kandy, Kurunegala, and Rathnapura using a sample of 600 consumers, from December 2016 to May 2018. Out of the 600 consumers, only 114 were purchasing organic food by that time, and those 114 consumers were chosen as the sample for this study.  Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, and multiple linear regressions were used as data analysis techniques. According to the results, majority of the respondents belongs to the 31-45 year age category. While most respondents had an education up to GCE Advanced Level, significant percentages of respondents were educated up to graduate and post-graduate levels.  Also, most of the respondents received a monthly total income in between Sri Lankan Rupees 85,001 and 162,000 (approximately US dollars 473 – 900). Although one-fourth of the consumers are purchasing organic food at that time, a higher number is willing to buy them in future. As per the principal component analysis, health and environment consciousness, certification of organic food, marketing aspects of organic food, common parameters of organic food, awareness on the value of organic food, and market availability of organic food were the extracted determinants. The results of multiple linear regressions revealed that market availability, common parameters of organic food, and health and environment consciousness are the dominating variables of the purchase intention of organic food consumers. Thus, expanding the market conditions for organic food, establishing a better marketing system, conducting effective food awareness programs, and value addition for organic food are the identified timely essential recommendations.

  JEL CODE: Q13, Q19

• Transition economy and happiness the Czech Republic compared with the Netherlands in the 1990- 2004 period

  119-126

  JAC van Ophem

  V. Kohout

  W.J.M. Heijman

  Views:

  382

  The paper deals with the subject Transition economy and happiness – a case study of the Czech Republic in a comparison with The Netherlands in the 1990- 2004 period. The paper addresses the following two questions: 1. How has the level of happiness changed since 1990 in the Czech Republic and in The Netherlands? 2. Are there differences with respect to variables that explain differences in happiness between both countries. It appears that. at the beginning of the 1990s of the last century, the Czechs were less happy than the Dutch and, that, people in the Czech Republic were less happy in 1999 than they were in 2004. Furthermore, Happiness in the Czech Republic is approaching the level of happiness in The Netherlands. In both countries happiness is positively affected by subjective health status, perceived freedom of choice over life, being married or living together and satisfaction with one’s financial situation and having trust in social institutions. But there are differences with respect to the impact of age, education and religion .

• SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF THE INTENSITY OF MUSHROOM COMMERCIALISATION IN GREATER ACCRA REGION, GHANA

  Emmanuel Anobir Mensah

  Lawrence Acheampong

  Enoch Kwame Tham-Agyekum

  Views:

  408

  Fungi, such as mushrooms, have the unique ability to decompose and convert obstinate organic substances into protein, thereby improving nutrition, increasing food security, fostering sustainable agricultural production, and generating income for farmers. Since the 1990s, the Ghanaian government, through the Mushroom Unit of the Food Research Institute of Ghana, has promoted the cultivation and commercialization of (oyster) mushrooms in Ghana as an additional source of income for the urban poor. This study used a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaires, and validated structured interview schedule instruments to collect data from 153 mushroom farmers in the Ga East and Adentan Municipalities of the Greater Accra Region to determine the intensity, degree, characterisation, and factors that influence the intensity of oyster mushroom. The Crop Commercialization Index, frequency, mean, standard deviation, Two Stage Least Square regression and Ordinary Least Square regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed a low intensity (GHC 10202.20) but a high degree (75%)of oyster mushroom commercialization in the study area. The vast majority of oyster mushroom farmers (95%) were highly commercialized, selling more than half of their oyster mushroom output. Except for age, farmers' level of formal education, land ownership, and production volume of oyster mushroom all positively influenced the intensity of oyster mushroom commercialization. The Food Research Institute, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and development organizations should step up efforts to increase oyster mushroom production and attract educated, young, and unemployed people to oyster mushroom ventures.