Consumer’s Attitude And Behavior Towards Organic Rice In Thailand And China

The quest for organic food has developed significantly in the past decade. Organic farming are a growing sector in Thailand and China. The adoption of organic production is highly determined by the market demand. Therefore, this is reflected in the consumer’s attitudes and behavior towards organic products. The aims of this study were to get a general overview of consumers’ attitude of organic rice, to assess consumers’ attitudes and their willingness to pay for organic rice; more specifically it investigated consumers’ preference and showed if sensory attributes can be used to predict consumers’ acceptability for organic rice. The research was conducted in two stages, the first part focused on the method used in explaining the different socio-economic status and the second part covered the sensory evaluation related to organic rice. The survey was carried out in Bangkok, Thailand and Beijing, China, which is one of the most important organic rice production areas in the country. In the consumer’s survey, the customers were mainly inhabitants of urban areas, where the people are more aware of food safety issues, health care and access to higher disposable income. The main constraints for buying organic rice were the high premium in organic food prices and the lack of trust in the local certification system. The export market is constantly improving but there are still many potential opportunities to harvest. Results from this study highlighted that higher income and higher academic qualification were factors observed to influence consumer’s attitude and behavior to purchase organic products. On the basis of these results, we concluded that organic farming are suitable but challenging in Thailand and China..