Consumer Awareness and Preference towards Sri Lankan Organic Food Industry Consumer Awareness and Preference towards Sri Lankan Organic Food Industry

Abstract

Organic foods, is a rising industry in Sri Lanka which solely depends on the consumer demand. However, Consumer awareness and Preference towards Sri Lankan organic food industry is still questionable. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to find out the consumer awareness and preferences on it. The selected location for the study was Hadabima authority, Sri Lanka. One hundred customers were selected by the random sampling as the sample and a pre tested structured questionnaire was used as the research instrument for collecting relevant data. Data ware analyzed by using descriptive and inferential methods .Even though all the customers have heard about the concept “organic foods’, according to the survey 12% of them didn’t have used organic foods at all. Less than 20% of customers were using organic foods regularly and majority of customers had seldom usage. TV and radio were identified as the most contributed communication channels for making people aware about the organic foods followed by printed media. Over 50% of consumers had the idea that the organic food is something only free from chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Study revealed that majority of customers liked to buy organic foods at any price while overall over 75% percent of customers had willingness to buy organic foods at higher prices than conventional foods. Fifty percent of customers expressed that they are willing to replace conventional or non organic foods totally by organic if they were readily available. Therefore the preference of local consumers about the organic food is at a favorable level which can strongly encourage the market while the awareness of consumers has to develop furthermore.