Enoch Owusu-Sekyere1, Henry Jordaan1
1Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
kofiwusu23@gmail.com/OwusuSekyereE@ufs.ac.za
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper was to estimate consumers’ preferences for environmentally sustainable beef products, with the aim of developing and promoting environmentally sustainable products in South Africa. The findings reveal that there is profound preference heterogeneity at segment level for environmentally sustainable beef products. We identified three distinct consumer segments. We demonstrate that socioeconomic factors, public awareness creation and campaigns on threats posed by climate changes, subjective and objective knowledge on environmental sustainability significantly explain consumers’ choice of environmentally sustainable beef products. Furthermore, it is concluded that there are relevant segmental equity issues that need to be addressed when designing environmental sustainability policies to promote ecologically sustainable products. Finally, we demonstrate that there is a potential market for environmentally sustainable products in South Africa.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr Owusu-Sekyere Enoch is an agricultural and development economist with the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of the Free State, South Africa. His areas of specialisation include agricultural and resource economics, water footprint and economic productivity assessment, environmental economics, food safety, food quality, food security, food policy, technology adoption, consumer choices and behavioural studies.