Determinants of Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organically Produced Fluted Pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) among University Workers in Eastern Nigeria

As against conventional fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis), certified organic fluted pumpkin is safer, but the production and consumption are low. Awareness of heath benefit would likely spur the demand and stimulate production. Thus, this study examined the willingness to pay (WTP) for organically produced fluted pumpkin among the staff of Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Anambra State, Nigeria. Two-stage sampling procedure was used to collect data for this study. Four faculties with the largest staff population were purposively selected out of 14 faculties in the university, then, workers were selected proportionate to the population size of each faculty, resulting in a total sample size of 100. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on consumers characteristics, awareness, willingness to pay and factors determining consumers WTP. Descriptive statistics and logit regression analysis were used to analyze the data. This study revealed that more than 70% of the respondents were aware of organic vegetables and about 67% of the respondents agreed that organically fluted pumpkin is healthier than conventionally one. On the average, up to 43.22 % of the respondents are willing to pay a premium for organically produced fluted pumpkin above (N200) the average cost of 200grammes of conventional fluted pumpkin. At 5% significance level of education (β=0. 81), and chemical consciousness (β=0.035) had positive influence on the willingness to pay while premium amount to be paid (β=-1. 1x 1005) and sex (β=-1.38), had negative influence. The study concluded that there was a potential market for organically produced fluted pumpkin among the university staff and recommended its prompt production.