Comparison of motives to buy organic foods among middle income urban consumers of the state of Mexico, Mexico

Abstract

Expansion of organic food production requires increasing the number of organic food consumers. The aim of the study was to explore the relative importance of motives to buy organic foods in consumers of the state of Mexico by applying a 21-item questionnaire, each item with a set of fixed options, the consumer decided which of the options was closer to his/her own opinion. Frequencies expressed as percent of respondents by option within an item were compared by Chi-square. Questionnaires analysed were 618. Decision to buy organic food was found in over 50% (p<0.05) of the respondents, indicating that there is a need to increase the visibility among consumers of the organic food advantages. Above 50% (p<0.05) of the respondents thought that organic foods were better than non-organic, this believe is a stronghold to gain organic food consumers. For 30% (p<0.05) of the respondents a major restrain to buy organic foods is that they are difficult to find and there was low availability; 80% (p<0.05) of the respondents buy organic food as a personal decision no matter other´s people opinion about organic foods; still there is a need to build-up a social environment favourable to buy organic foods. Consumers’ trust in all links of the organic food chain needs to be strengthened as there were around 40% (p<0.05) respondents that their trust was not higher than average. It was concluded that drivers to increase the number of organic food consumers among the population of the state of Mexico are increasing availability, diversity and visibility of organic foods, expanding the knowledge of the benefits of organic foods over non-organic and strengthen consumers’ trust in all links of the organic food chain.