CONSUMER PERCEPTION AND DEMAND

TOWARDS ORGANIC FOOD

By

Saji Pillai

Roll No:

WMPT/June 07/05

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 CHAPTER ONE: - INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

People are becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the quality of food. This
concern has intensified in the recent years. Heated debates have prompted regarding food
safety and integrity because of a series of food scares and controversies surrounding
genetically modified crops.

Against this background, people’s interest and demand in organic food has grown rapidly and
remarkably because consumers and marketers react to popular media about health and
environment effects of pesticides, genetically-modified organisms and food safety.

Awareness and knowledge has become a crucial and prime factor in changing the perception
of consumers towards organic foods. Awareness about organic foods and ill-effects of
conventional food has led consumers to switch from conventional to organic.

Due to the growing organic market and the increasing potential to expand its market, it
becomes necessary to know what consumers perceive about organic food and what factors
lead them to demand organic food. Therefore, level of knowledge of the consumers and
reasons for their demand for organic could be tracked and can be used strategically to educate
them appropriately and increase the demand for organic food.

Consumers are aware about what organic food does not do in its production.
However, they do not have sufficient knowledge about what organic food production
involves. Therefore, in order to increase the demand and market and to promote organic food,
government, growers, distributors, retailers, marketers must take necessary actions to make
public knowledgeable about the organic practices and procedures.

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1.2 Importance of the study:
Knowledge about the product and its production plays a very important role. It can influence
the decision regarding purchasing a product. Enhanced knowledge convinces the customer to
purchase the particular product. It leads them to have a positive attitude and converts them
into regular purchasers. Reasons for demand of the product could be used as a tool to
promote the product and to target different segments.

This research will explore the knowledge that consumers have about organic food and the
reasons that encourage them to demand organic food. This will provide a base to understand
what consumers think about organic food. By providing more appropriate knowledge about
organic foods will make a vast population positive towards organic and increase its demand.
Investigating the reasons for demand could be used as a tool by the organic food companies
and marketers, which in turn will help them to market their products. It will also help them to
target specific segments.

1.3 Problem statement:

As discussed above, knowledge is an important aspect for the growth of the organic food
market. Hughner (2007) reported that researchers have said people are confused regarding the
term ‘organic’ and many are unaware about the practises and procedure used for organic
produces. Taking the current market conditions into account, it becomes important to
understand what the term ‘organic’ means to consumers. There has been less study in this
area. Few researchers have included in their studies an overview of what consumer
understands by the word organic.

Recognizing the reasons that are raising the demand for organic food helps the marketer to
understand what inclines consumers towards purchasing organic food. It helps them to focus
on target groups. Many researches have been conducted in this area but most of them have
taken place in the US.

In view of all of the above, is a need to research on knowledge and reasons for raising the
demand for organic foods. The survey will be conducted in the areas in Pune city.

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1.4 Objective of the study:
i. General Objective:
The key objective of this research is to investigate consumers’ perception towards organic
foods in India. On the basis of the existing sources of information and data, a quantitative
analysis will be provided on the knowledge and determinants of demand of organic foods.
This will be followed by recommendations so as to increase the number of consumers and
expand the market of organic food.

ii. Specific Objectives:

• To investigate the knowledge of consumers regarding organic foods and its
advantages and,
• To explore the reasons that are raising the demand for organic foods

1.4 Research Methodology:

i. Nature of Study:

The research will be both exploratory as well as descriptive.

The study would be based on the respondents located in Pune

Data:
• Primary data will be collected through questionnaire and personal interviews.

• Secondary Data will be obtained from previous research papers, journals,

books, websites, newspapers and magazines.

Sample:

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 • The sample for the research will include about 200+ people in Pune,
Maharashtra, India.

ii. Research Questions

1. To determine the Consumer Profile and their awareness level on Organic

Food?
2. To determine the industry and trend Awareness of the consumer on Organic Food?
3. To identify the required effort for raising the Demand for Organic Foods?

1.5 Limitations:
The research will be conducted with limited time duration and focuses only on people
in Pune, India.

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CHAPTER TWO: - LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION:

People have a general awareness about organic food, but many do not have a very clear
understanding and do not know the proper meanings of terms such as “organic”, “organic
food”, and “organic farming”. Keeping this view in account, first “organic food” and
“organic farming” will be clearly defined in this chapter. This chapter will also define the
consumer perception and its influence in the buying behaviour
Once the meaning is understood, we will go back into history and understand how it all
started and the tremendous development that has been made in this sector over the years. We
will then discuss the current scenario of the market and position of this sector.
The organic foods sector is currently booming. The organic foods market is growing rapidly
at an average rate of 27% percent per year over the last decade. This rapid growth is because
of the increasing consumer awareness and the resultant increase in the demand for organic
products. Hence, it is important to know the consumers’ perception towards organic foods as
they form the factors for increase in the demand for organic products.

This chapter will be concluded by discussing the effects of the use of organic products on the
environment. This is the main concern of the government for promoting organic food.

2.2 DEFINITIONS:

i. Organic Foods-
When the Universe was created, it was at its most natural form. Every grass, tree, fruit,
animal, etc. was natural or, in other words, organic. The Cambridge dictionary defines the
word “organic” as ‘not using artificial chemicals in the growing of plants and animals’. This

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means that plants and animals at that time grew naturally with the support of the
environment. Hence, they were at their purest form without the harmful chemicals which are
used today.
Definition as per Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA)
- an Indian Government Department which helps in to deliver economic, social and
environmental sustainability, explains that Organic products are grown under a system of
agriculture without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with an environmentally and
socially responsible approach. This is a method of farming that works at grass root level
preserving the reproductive and regenerative capacity of the soil, good plant nutrition, and
sound soil management, produces nutritious food rich in vitality which has resistance to
diseases. In one sense all food is organic, because it has come from plants or animals. This
statement can be supported by referring to another meaning of the word ‘organic’ from the
Cambridge dictionary, which defines it as ‘being or coming from living plants and animals’.
“However for some fifty years the word organic has been used to describe food grown
without most artificial fertilizers or pesticides and in a way that emphasizes crop rotation,
making the most of natural fertilisers and ensuring that the life of the soil is maintained.
Animals are kept in ways which minimise the need for medicines and other chemical
treatments.”

Other definitions exist for the term organic food in terms of Export is

As per the National Program for Organic Production (NPOP)( Notification dated 21-July-
2004 72 (RE-2003)/2002-2007)

Note: The wording used below is as per the Gazette Notice defined in the notification no
change so ever has been made since it is a government notification for organic food
exporter

In exercise of the powers conferred under paragraph 2.4 and 2.29 of the export and
import policy 2002-2007, the Director General of foreign Trade hereby lays down the
following procedures for export of certified organic products in super session of earlier
public notice No 19 dated 11th June 2001 and Public Notice No. 25 dated 2nd July,
2001:-

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1. “An agricultural product will be allowed to be exported as “organic product” only if
it is Produced, Processed and packed under a valid Organic certificate issued by a
certifying agency duly accredited by the national steering committee for organic
product (NSCOP) set up by the Ministry of commerce & Industry (Department of
commerce). The committee will function as the national Accreditation Body for
the Purpose of accreditation of inspection and certification agencies.”

(http://www.apeda.com/apedawebsite/organic/notician2004.html)

2. “The inspection and certification agencies accredited till date by APEDA, spices

Board, coffee Board and Tea Board Shall be Deemed to have been accredited by

the NSCOP and will be under the control of national Accreditation Body for the

Purposes of accreditation of inspection and certification agencies for organic

product.” (http://www.apeda.com/apedawebsite/organic/notician2004.html)

3. “The national programme for Organic Production (NPOP), which has been

published by department of commerce in June, 2004 with a view to ensure

orderly development of organic agriculture is annexed to this Public Notice.”

(http://www.apeda.com/apedawebsite/organic/notician2004.html)

As stated organic means the food is not grown in cocktail of chemicals that means using
chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides (either used on the crop or already present in
the soil owing to their use for decades) and it is also not genetically modified or
genetically engineered. According to science Fresh Organic Produce contains many more
vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Organic products protect us from toxic and chemical
induced diseases while nourishing our bodies to promote good health. Non-organic food
only appears to be cheaper, but it costs us our health, our farmland, our eco-systems and
taxes to pay for the disasters that chemical farming create. Chemical farming has led to
dramatic erosion of the soil, killing off whole species of birds and near extinction of some
of our beautiful wildlife. Sustainable Organic Agriculture is already feeding people
around the world. Chemical farming can seriously damage farmer's health. Central
strategy on organic foods has always slanted toward the global market, leaving the critical
mass of domestic consumers out in the cold.

The Definition is as per (www.fao.org/organicag/display/work/display.asp?

country=IND&lang=en&disp=summaries )

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ii. Organic Farming -
A report published by UK’s Leading organic promoters Soil Association (Heaton, 2001) has
explained that in organic farming/agriculture, nutrients returned to the soil in manures and
composts have to be recycled via the biological life of the soil before they become available
to crops. A gram of healthy soil can contain some 600 million micro-organisms and tens of
thousands of different species of bacteria and fungi as well as organic and inorganic matter
that undergoes complex, which is far from fully understandable, chemical reaction. These
reactions along with the manures and composts and the action of other microbiological soil
life, plants are naturally supplied with a whole range of nutrients that would otherwise be too
distant, insufficiently supplied or physically unavailable for the plants. Thus, in the organic
system the biological activity within the soil is fundamental and delivers the variety and
quantity of nutrients required by the crop for its growth.
(www.organicindia.com/organic-herbs.php )
Organic farming today is becoming a worldwide movement. One of the major findings of
organic farming study done on Duchy, Home Farm in Gloucestershire, Great Britain which
states as : "Evidence shows that the public will continue to play the additional premium
prices for organically produced food. Support for organic farming is increasing as fears over
food safety grow." The study further notes that pollution of air and water is reduced,
estimates of whole farm nutrient losses are less under organic than conventional production"
In organic farming, farm is viewed as an economy. It is a way of farming which excludes the
use of off-farm inputs such as chemical fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides etc and is primarily
based on the principle: use of natural organic inputs and biological plant protection measures.
Properly managed organic farming reduces or eliminates water pollution and helps conserve
water and soil on the farm thereby enhances sustainability and agro-biodiversity.
(http://www.organicindia.com/organic-farming-becoming-worldwide-movement.php)

Organic in agriculture is also a labeling term that denotes products have been produced in
accordance with certain standards during food production, handling, processing and
marketing stages, and certified by a duly constituted certification authority or body.
DEFRA (Compendium of UK Organic Standards) defines “organic farming as a production
system that is designed to produce optimum quantities of food of high nutritional quality by
using management practices which aim to avoid the use of agro-chemical inputs and which
minimise damage to the environment and wildlife.”
“Their principles include:

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 • Working with natural systems rather than seeking to dominate them
• The encouragement of biological cycles involving micro-organisms, soil flora and
fauna, plants and animals
• The maintenance of valuable existing landscape features and adequate habitats for the
production of wildlife, with particular regard to endangered species
• Careful attention to animal welfare considerations
• The avoidance of pollution
• Consideration for the wider social and ecological impact of the farming system."

Organic farming is has been based on an integrated relationship amongst soil, minerals,
water, plants, micro flora, insects, animals and human beings. It helps create productive
landscapes and also helps successfully reconciles with food production and environmental
conservation. Organic farming relies on the local human resources and their knowledge to
enhance the existing natural resource processes, and thereby respecting the ecological
carrying capacities of the resources. By reducing the dependence on off-farm inputs and
creating a more balanced nutrient and energy flows, the ecosystem resilience is strengthened,
food security is also increased and there by additional income is also generated. Organic
farming responds positively to all sustainable agriculture methods and rural development
objectives and thereby helps in maintaining soil fertility to improve crop production and
socio-economic conditions of the farmers. One of the biggest rewards of organic farming is
the health of the soil is alive with beneficial organisms. These healthy microbes, fungi and
bacteria keep the harmful bacteria away and the fungi that cause diseases in check. Organic
farmers, work with nature, there by build the soil that protects their crops from diseases. They
also try to be careful about crop rotation. They ensure not to plant the same crop in the same
location, which discourages the build-up of diseases and pests that plague that particular crop.
Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers have caused great damage to the soil and
environment besides affecting crop production. The use of pesticides and fertilizer over a
longer period of time has increased substantially. Pesticides residue is the second largest
agent that causes cancer, which is next to cigarettes. Besides this, the pesticides and fertilizers
residuals also persist in the soil and are harmful to the beneficial soil micro organism and
earthworms thereby resulting in degradation of soil fertility. Fertilizers have a short term
positive effect on productivity but a long term negative effect on the environment where they
remain for years after leaching and running off, contaminating the ground water and other
water bodies. To increase production, we have taken the wrong path to sustainability. This

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effects have already been noticed by the farmers committing suicide in growing numbers
over every passing year. Another negative effect of this trend has been on the fortunes of the
farming communities across the globe. Despite the so-called increase in productivity, farmers
practically every where around the globe have seen downtimes in their current fortunes.
Pesticides residue controversies in the recent past in the bottled drinking water as well in the
aerated beverages in India hardly have come as a surprise. Pesticides are non-bio-degradable
but very highly on toxic, which find their ways into ground water and water bodies
contaminating them and rendering them unfit for human consumption. Pesticides go into the
ground water in the first place only because of the current practiced agricultural system. The
pesticides problem compounded in India since many pesticides banned abroad are
manufactured were dumped and sold freely in India.
In simple words, organic foods are the products of the farm which are grown naturally
without the use of any kind of man-made chemicals on and off the farm and adopts the
system of crop-rotation, animal and plant manures and enhances ecological harmony.

iii. Consumer Perception

Consumer Perception is a consumer’s cognitive impression that is formed of "reality" which
in turn influences the consumer's actions and buying behavior toward that product.
iv Buying Behaviour
Definition of Consumer Buying Behavior:
Consumer Buying Behavior is the decision processes and acts of consumer involved in
buying and using of products.
Need to understand:
• why the consumers make the purchases that they make?
• what are the factors that influence consumer purchases?
• the changing factors in our society that effect the consumer purchases.
Consumer Buying Behavior is also referred to the buying behavior of the ultimate consumer.
A firm needs to analyze the buying behavior for:
• Buyers reactions to the firms marketing strategy which has a great impact on the firms
success.
• The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a Marketing Mix (MM) that
will satisfies (gives utility to) the customers, therefore there is a need to analyze the
what, where, when and how consumers buy.

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 • Also will help marketers to predict how consumers would respond to marketing
strategies.
There are 6 stages that effect the consumer buying decision process
The 6 stages are:
• Problem Recognition (is the awareness of need)--difference between the desired state
and the actual condition. Deficit in assorting the products.
Eg: Hunger--Food. Hunger is stimulated by the need to eat food. This can be
stimulated by the marketer through providing product information
• Information search
• Internal search, memory.
• External search if you need more information then friends and relatives (word of
mouth). Marketer dominated sources like comparison shopping; public sources etc.
• A successful information search leaves the buyer with possible alternatives,
this evokes a set.
o Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is
 chinese food
 indian food
 burger king
 klondike kates etc
• Evaluation of Alternatives--need to establish criteria for evaluation, features that the
buyer wants or that he does not want. Rank or weight alternatives or resume search.
May decide that you want to eat something spicy, indian gets highest rank etc.
If not satisfied with the choice then return to the search phase. Think of another
restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc. Information gathered from different sources
may be treated differently. Marketers must try to influence by "framing" these
alternatives.
• Purchase decision--Choose buying alternative that includes product, package, store,
method of purchase etc.
• Purchase--May differ from decision, as time lapse or product availability.
• Post-Purchase Evaluation--outcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction has the consumer
made the right decision. This can be reduced by warranties, and after sales
communication etc.
Eg: After eating an indian meal, may think that really you wanted a chinese meal
instead.

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Other factors that effect the buying behavior is

1. Personal
2. Psychological
3. Social

The marketer need to be aware of these factors also to to develop an appropriate marketing
strategy for its target market.
The dissertation will also try to study these factors

Personal
Uniqueness to a particular person which includes the demographic Factors like Sex, Race,
Age etc.
e.g. Young people purchase things for different reasons than older people.

Psychological factors
Psychological factors include:

Motives--

A motive is defined as an internal energizing force that orients a person's activities

toward satisfying a need or achieving a goal. Actions are effected by a set of motives,
not just one. If marketers can identify motives then they can better develop a
marketing mix.
MASLOW hierarchy of needs!!

o Physiological
o Safety
o Love and Belonging
o Esteem
o Self Actualization

Need to determine what level of the hierarchy the consumers are at to determine what
motivates their purchases.

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 Health Organic Drinks, a product marketers targeted at consumers that needed to
receive additional energy from their drinks after exercise etc., a healthy natural drink.

Perception--

It is defined as what do you see? Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and
interpreting information inputs to produce meaning.

Ability and Knowledge--

It defines the need to understand individuals capacity to learn( His/her Educational

Qualification). Learning, changes in a person's behavior caused by information and
experience.

Attitudes--

It is the knowledge and positive and negative feelings about an object or activity-
maybe tangible or intangible, living or non- living.....Drive perceptions

Individual learns attitudes through their experience and their interaction with other
people. Consumer attitudes toward a products is greatly influence the success or
failure of the product’s marketing strategy.

Personality--

It is all the internal traits and behaviors that make a person unique, uniqueness arrives
from a person's heredity and personal experience. Examples include:

o Workaholism
o Compulsiveness
o Self confidence
o Friendliness
o Adaptability
o Ambitiousness
o Dogmatism

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 o Authoritarianism
o Introversion
o Extroversion
o Aggressiveness
o Competitiveness.

This is not included in the study as there is a weak association between personality
and Buying Behavior, this may be due to unreliable measures.

Lifestyles--

It is defined as e consistent patterns people follow in their lives.

EXAMPLE healthy foods for a healthy lifestyle.

Social Factors
The consumer wants, learning, motives etc. are also influenced by opinion leaders, person's
family, reference groups, social class and culture.

Because 2 income families are becoming more common, the decision maker within
the family unit is changing...also, family has less time for children, and therefore
tends to let them influence purchase decisions in order to alleviate some of the guilt.
(Children influence about $130 billion of goods in a year) Children also have more
money to spend themselves.

Social Class--

An open group of individuals who have similar social rank. India is a class society.
The criteria; class, occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic groups and
possessions.

Social class determines to some extent, the types, quality, and quantity of products
that a person buys or uses.

Lower class people tend to stay close to home when shopping; do not engage in much
pre-purchase information gathering. Stores project definite class images.

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 Family, reference groups and social classes are all social influences on consumer
behavior. All operate within a larger culture.

Culture and Sub-culture--

Culture refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by a
homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation.

Culture also determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture

determines what people wear, eat, reside and travel.

Different society, different levels of needs, different cultural values.

Culture can be divided into subcultures:

o geographic regions
o human characteristics such as age and ethnic background.

Culture effects what people buy, how they buy and when they buy.

2.3 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC FOODS

AND ITS MARKET:

When humans were born, they survived on fruits, grass, vegetables and animals which grew
on their own in their natural environment. Slowly they learnt and developed the knowledge of
growing these plants. With the passage of time, research and experiments along with
improved technology helped them to grow vegetables faster than their natural period of
growth by modifying their genes and using different kinds of fertilizers, pesticides, etc. It also
became possible to feed animals with different antibiotics and growth hormones so as to
enable them to produce more than what they would naturally produce. In this process of
achievement by modern technology and science one forgot the ill-effects and hazards of the
amount of chemicals absorbed by the food, given out in the environment and finally

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consumed by humans. This affects humans from two sides, by the consumption of this food
and also by the environment which has been polluted by the use of the chemicals.
Organic farming is an age old practice in India which got disturbed during First Generation
Green Revolution. Organic manure has been in practice in Indian agriculture since the Vedic
times. A British Agronomist Sir Albert Howard, however had started the organic agriculture
way back in 1900. To solve the problem of decline in the quality of soil, in the early 1920s a
group of practising farmers in UK who were concerned with this and the general
deterioration in crop and livestock and the resultant future of agriculture, sought the advice of
Dr. Rudolf Stenier (the founder of anthroposophy, who had spent all his life researching and
investigating the forces that regulate life and growth), who then, with the help of a series of
lectures and conversations held at the Koberwitz, Germany, in June 1924, brought forward
the fundamental principles of biodynamic farming and gardening (Biodynamic Farming and
Gardening Association). This was the beginning of organic farming/agriculture. “Biodynamic
farming involves restoring to the soil a balanced living condition through the application and
use of the completely digested form of crude organic matter known as stabilized humus. Crop
rotation, correct compost and proper intercropping can all contribute to a healthier
biodynamic yield.” (Saunders, 1999)
The term organic farming was first used by Lord Northbroune (Sharma, 2004 and Duram,
2005) in his book, Look to the Landswhich was published in 1940. He is said to have coined
the term ‘organic farming’ (Northbroune, 2005). He was the one “Who embraced the
teachings of Rudolph Steiner and biodynamic farming and had a vision of the farm as a
sustainable, ecologically stable, self-contained unit, biologically complete and balanced-a
dynamic living organic whole.” (Sharma, 2004)

2.3.1 Organic Farming Situation in India:

(www.organicfacts.net/organic-cultivation/organic-farming/organic-farming-in-india-a-
viable-alternative.html )
Indian farmers had an inherent understanding on how to work closely with the nature,
because only 30 per cent of India’s total cultivable area is covered with fertilizers due to
assured irrigation and the balance 70 per cent of arable land is mainly rain-fed with little or
no use of fertilizer. Since it isn’t a profit oriented but social-profit oriented. Commitment to
mother nature’s protection is a pre-requisite to organic farming. India has comparative
advantage over other countries because of its vast cultivated area, which has remained free of
contamination from chemicals fertilizers, spread over distinctly varying agro climatic

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conditions, for example, large area in north-east region, northern hills and rain fed regions
with very low or zero use of agro chemicals fertilizers, can be instantly converted to organic
farming. Farmers in these areas often use organic manure as a source of nutrients that are
readily available either in their own farm or in their locality.
Currently, about 70 per cent of organic agriculture products produced in India is being
exported because of the big bucks involved. Organic products do fetch a 20-30 per cent
higher price than inorganic products in the world market. According to the study by Indian
Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture, the global market for organically produced
foods is roughly about $26 billion and is estimated to increase upto $102 billion by 2020.
As part of 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07), the government has earmarked Rs 100 crore (Rs 1
billion) for the promotion of sustainable agriculture in the country, but the main components
of this initiative have benefited the exports, from the establishing of national organic
standards under NPOP (National Programme for Organic Production), also putting in place a
system of certification for the organic products, and establishing APEDA (Agricultural and
Processed Food Export Development Authority) as the nodal agency to promote exports
opportunities in organic product. Traditionally the domestic retail avenues for organic
produce has been the age odd cottage emporium, fruit mart, bakery and kirana store along
with an up market provision store and retail malls. However today, marginal growth is slowly
becoming evident in the increase in organized producers, retailers and organic product
offerings in the market, where before the movement had been driven entirely by the spirit of
individual initiatives of the farmers, the odd entrepreneur and non-governmental
organizations.
i. Standards for Organic Products
Indian National Standards for Organic Production & India Organic Logo governed by
APEDA, provides the national standards for organic products through a National
Accreditation Policy and Programme.
The aims of the National Programme for organic production include:
(1) To provide the means of evaluation and certification programmes for organic agriculture
& products as per internationally approved criteria.
(2) To accredit certification programmes for organic produce.
(3) To facilitate certification of organic products in conformity to the National Standards for
Organic Produces.
(4) To encourage the development of organic farming and organic processing in the country.

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The Indian National Organic Standards Board has also defines organic food as, "Organic
agriculture is an ecological production biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological
activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on-farm management practices that
restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony." management system that promotes and
enhances
ii. Certification in Organic Farming
The certification for organic farms is required to satisfy the consumers that the product is
totally organic. Certification agency conducts the inspection that minimum requirements
prescribed for organic agriculture is fully met and issues certificates to the farmer. The
formation of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) in
1972 gave an international framework for the discussion and codification of internationally
recognized principles of organic farming. As per the FAO-WHO has officially declared that
International guidelines for organically produced food products should also be considered
important for consumer protection and information as they facilitate trade. The Codex
Alimentarious Commission, a joint FAO-WHO food standards programme, body that sets
international food standards, have develop guidelines for the production, processing, labeling
and marketing of organically produced food in 1991. The Codex guidelines are important for
equivalent judgments under the rule of World Trade Organization (WTO). The Codex
Alimentarious Commission defines organic agriculture as a holistic food production
management system, which promotes and enhances agro ecosystem health including
biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of
management practices in preference to the use of farm inputs, taking into account that
regional conditions require locally adapted systems. But the commercial organic farming in
India is still at a nascent stage. ( http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-cultivation/organic-
farming/organic-farming-in-india-a-viable-alternative.html)
According to IFOAM - SOEL (Stiftung Oekologie & Landbau) survey of February 2005,
India has about 76,326 hectare of land under organic management managed by about 5147
certified organic farms , which is only 0.05 per cent of total agricultural land.
According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority
(APEDA), a nodal agency involved in promoting Indian organic agriculture, about 67292
tons of organic products worth of Rs 7123 lakhs are being exported from India. According to
APEDA, India has 2508 thousand of hectare area under organic farming including herbs
collections from the forest area of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (2432500 hectare)
producing 119656 tons of organic products, 165700 numbers of seedlings and cuttings and

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264000 litres of effective micro organism. The Indian organic farming industry is estimated
at US $ 20 millions and is almost entirely export oriented. But there are a number of farms in
India which have either never been chemically managed or cultivated or has converted back
to organic farming because of their farmers beliefs or purely for reason of economics. These
thousands of farmers cultivating hundreds of thousands of acres of land are not classified as
organic though they are. Their produce either sells in the open market along with
conventionally grown produce at the same price or sells purely on goodwill and trust as
organic through selected outlets and regular specialist bazaars. These farmers may never opt
for certification because of the costs involved as well as the extensive documentation that is
required by certifiers. ( Organic Farming in India:by Dr Gursharan Singh Kainth )

2.3.2 Organic food picture across India:

The organic market report by Siddarth Jain and Deepti Behl (2007) .

According to the report at present, there are two kinds of organic products are available – the
one which is certified and other which is uncertified. A certified product would have its
production process guaranteed by an authorized and accredited certifying agency. The quality
assurance is displayed on the product packaging as a logo. One should also find another logo
- 'India Organic'. (http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/?p=294)

i. Current Trend of Organic Product In India :

( http://www.organicfacts.net/ )

According to the Indian Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), the global
market for organically produced foods is about $26 billion and is estimated to increase by
$102 billion by 2020. The organic food industry in India is estimated to be currently around
Rs. 600 crores where about 60-70% is being exported.

.There has been a spurt of interest around the world for organic foods primarily because of
people are waking up for a healthier lifestyle. Organics sales rang up to nearly $16.7bn in in
2006, in the USA alone an 21% increase from the previous year was recorded, as per the
studies conducted by Organic Trade Association (OTA). But along with this double-digit
growth rates, there has also been a supply shortages of everything from organic oats to
organic milk. According to Experts what is now an intermittent problem could escalate into a
full-blown crisis, since more and more supermarkets are fast expanding their organic aisles.

20
The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has recently unveiled plans to double its offering of
organic product across it shelf line (BW Online, 3/29/06)

However what has become a rage in the USA has been slow to catch up in the Indian
consumer market. The industry here is still in a growing stage and shall start be turning more
heads when we look at the unhealthy lifestyles led by current Indian professionals.

To encourage the sustainable agriculture growth in India the International Competency Cente
for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) has been established in India in partnership with FIBL
Switzerland. It has been knowledge and a learning centre for all aspects leading to organic
agriculture and agribusiness with a mission to building competence in organizations and
individuals in organic agriculture, manufacturing and agribusiness. And thereby to contribute
ecologically, economically and socially to sustainable agriculture and livelihood systems.

In India there are primarily 10 agencies which carry out the certification for organic produce
as well as farms and production centres. They are SGS, IndoCert IMO Control, FKAL
International, Ecocert International and OneCert Asia. All these organisations provide USDA
Organic and EUREP GAP certifications, conduct rigorous checks on farms and issue
certificates. This process takes almost three years. However getting such a certification is a
tedious and cumbersome process if one tries to carry it out on his own but it has been made
easy by the step by step procedures involved and the consultancy provided by such
organisations. Despite the tedious journey, farmers are increasingly entering the segment
since the high growth potential for export of organic produce and certification requirement
for the exports of organic produces. Currently there are about 15,000 certified organic
farmers in India.
The primary reason for the world’s growing interest in such initiatives is a growing supply
mismatch between organic and other produce. Organic foods supply is increasing at a rate of
only 15% as compared to demand which is growing at 21%. When it comes to certifications
in India IndoCert clearly holds the edge with the majority of the produce being certified by
them. SGS loses out because its services are diluted as it provides various other services and
hence is not the first choice among organic food farmers.
(http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/?p=294)
ii. Organic more about B2B in India than B2C
Organic food in India is more of a business to business activity rather than a business to
consumer one. Due to lack of awareness and higher prices the off take in volumes is not

21
much in the local consumer market and is consider as a lifestyle requirement, however
organic foods in India command a premium price due to increasing export requirements. In
order to garner orders from India, even Sri Lankan Companies like Lanka Organics (Pvt.
Ltd.) are setting up their offices here.

PrimaryOrganic food
producing states

The above picture is a reflection of how Indian states have become aware or have taken to
organic production. Kerala is now known for its organic spices, Karnataka for organic coffee
and spices, Maharashtra for cotton, Gujarat for co-operative farming of various organic
products, Himanchal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for various food crops like rice, barley,
mower, etc. In fact Bangalore in Karnataka is fast becoming a hub for all organic food related

22
activities . It has also organised the organic trade fair in 2005 and 2006. Yet in order to gain
more acceptance and increase awareness in the masses, New Delhi was chosen to host the
Organic Food Fair 2007 by ICCOA.
(http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/ARTICLE/AGRIPPA/658_en-04.htm)

iii. Demand for Organic Product in India

The demand for organic agricultural products has been a stimulant for growth for the organic
product market. In other words if there is demand in market for organically produced farm
products this will encourage farmers to implement the organic farming practices and also to
use organic input like bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, vermi-compost, green manure and FYM.

Estimating the area under organic cultivation in India is a very difficult task as there is no
central agency that collects or compiles this information. There are different agencies having
estimated the area under organic agriculture differently for instance the study undertaken by
FIBL and ORG-MARG (Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003) the area under organic agriculture to
be 2,775 hectares (0.0015% of gross cultivated area in India). But there are other estimation
undertaken by SOEL-Survey which shows that the land area under organic cropping is
41000 hectare. The total numbers of organic farms in the India as per SOEL-Survey are
5661 but FIBL and ORG-MARG survey puts it as 1426. Some of the major organically
produced agricultural crops in India include crops like plantation, spices, pulses, fruits,
vegetables and oil seeds etc (Table: 4) (Source: Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003)

Table: 1

Major products produced in India by organic farming

Type of Products
Product

Commodity Tea, Coffee, Rice, Wheat

Spices Cardamom, Black pepper, white pepper, Ginger,

Turmeric, Vanilla, Tamarind, Clove, Cinnamon, Nutmeg,
Mace, Chili

Pulses Red gram, Black gram

Fruits Mango, Banana, Pineapple, Passion fruit, Sugarcane,

Orange, Cashew nut, Walnut

23
Vegetables Okra, Brinjal, Garlic, Onion, Tomato, Potato

Oil seeds Mustard, Sesame, Castor, Sunflower

Others Cotton, Herbal extracts

iv. Export of Organic Products from India

India is best known as an exporter of organic tea and coffee. But there is also has great
export potential for many other organic products. Other organic products for which India has
a niche market are its spices and fruits. Org-Marg’s survey also proves this fact as around
30% of respondents that includes producer, exporters and traders has responded that
organic tea are produced in India and this is highest response for any single crop, next are
spices, fruits, vegetables, rice and coffee (Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003). There has been a
small response for cashew, oil seed, wheat and pulses. Among the fruit crops that are most
preferred as organic product from India are Bananas, Mangos and oranges

Export Market: Organic agricultural export market is one of the major drivers of greening of
agriculture in India. The current production of organic crops is around 14,000 tons (Garibay
S V and Jyoti K, 2003). Out of this production, 24% is contributed by tea and rice each, fruits
and vegetables combine only makes 17% of this total production. From India around 11,925
tons of organic product are being exported, that makes around 85% of total organic crop
production is exported. Major countries which form India’s major export market for Indian
producers are Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,
Sweden, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK, and USA. Estimated quantity of
the various products that have been exported from India in 2002 is shown in Table 5
(Source: Org-Marg, 2002).The table shows that around 3000 tons of tea was exported and
in quantity term it was the highest exported produce from India, next major exports are rice
(2500 tons), fruits & vegetables (1800 tons), cotton (1200 tons) and wheat (1150 tons)
(Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003).

Table: 5 Major organic products exported from India

Product Sales (Tons)

Tea 3000

24
Coffee 550

Spices 700

Rice 2500

Wheat 1150

Pulses 300

Oil Seeds 100

Fruits & Vegetables 1800

Cashew Nut 375

Cotton 1200

Herbal Products 250

Total 11,925

The burgeoning US and European green markets provides enormous scope for Indian
organic food exporters. International Trade Centre’s (ITC) overview of estimation of organic
food world-wide shows that there will be a strong growth in retail sales from US $ 10 billion
in 1997 to US$ 17.5 billion in 2000 and about US$ 21 billion in 2001 (in 16 European
countries, USA and Japan). If the demand of the so called ‘green product’ in Japan that is
not certified as organic product is excluded from total estimation, than also it is a US$ 16
billion for 2000 and reached around US$ 19 billion in 2001. Though with the current trend
and current market share for organic produced is estimated only between one to two percent
of total food products market, but looking at the forecasting by experts which show that this
market is likely to grow at a higher pace. According to experts by 2010 around five percent
of the market is expected to be organic market share (Minou Yussefi and Heldge Willer,
2003).

Europe being the largest market of organic produces in world and consumes around half of
the world produce of organic production (Minou Yussefi and Helga Willer, 2003). EU is a net
importer of cereals, oilseeds, potatoes and vegetables from different countries. For 2001,
European market for organic food was estimated to be around US$ 9 billion but with
expected annual growth rate of around 20% (Table: 6) (Source: ITC,January2002)
depending upon the market, and for 2003 the retail sales for organic food in this market is
expected to grow up to US$ 10-11billion (Rudy Korbech-Olesen, ITC, UNCTAD/WTO).
Within Europe, Germany has been the largest market for organic products with sales value

25
of around 2.5 billion Euros ($2.3 billion (US)). On an average the per capita spending on
organic produces in Europe has been 23 euro per head by 2000. In terms of per capita
consumption of organic products countries like Denmark (72 Euros per head), Switzerland
(Euros 68), Austria (Euros 40) and Germany (Euros 31) is fared much better than others as
show in (Fig: 9) Source: Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003). While it is seen that some of the
European countries like Italy are not only meet their internal demand for organic products
but they also cater to the demands of other neighbouring countries. But there are other
countries like United Kingdom, which have been highly dependent on imports to meet their
domestic organic product demand.

Fig: 9 Per capita sales of organic produces in selected European Countries in Euro (2000)

As for North America, retail sales of organic products for 2002 was estimated nearly $12
billion (US) out of this US has alone been contributing for $11 billion (US). The US retail sale
for organic product has seen a growth of 20-24% per year for the past 12 years and the
same growth trends is expected to continue for the future. The current retail sales for organic
food is approx. 2% of total retail food sale in US (Minou Yussefi and Heldge Willer, 2003).

In Asia largest market for organic food product has been Japan and it is estimated to have
the retail sales of organic food and beverage at around $(US) 2.5-3.0 billion (Minou Yussefi
and Heldge Willer, 2003). Of the total value of organic market, imports is estimated to be, to
the tune of around $(US) 360 million. Although the organic food market in Japan which is not
more than 0.5% of total food market of Japan, but according to the Japanese Integrated
Market Institute, import of organic products is likely to grow by 40% (Hiraga, 2002). Other
global markets for organic products in the Middle East are Saudi Arabia and UAE. Within
Africa, South Africa is the only country which has organic market potential. As seen from this

26
global market growth trends for organic foods there is enormous potentials for India to
exploit the market primarily since it is an agricultural producing nation.

Table: 6 Percentage of organic food and medium term growth expected in selected
markets

Overview for World Market for organic food & beverages in 2000
(estimates)

Markets % of total food % Expected growth - Medium

sales term

Germany 1.6-1.8 10-15

U.K. 1.0-2.5 15-20

Italy 0.9-1.1 10-20

France 0.8-1.0 10-15

Switzerland 2.0-2.5 10-15

Denmark 2.5-3.0 10-15

Austria 1.8-2.0 10-15

Netherlands 0.9-1.2 10-20

Sweden 1.0-1.2 15-20

Belgium 0.9-1.1 10-15

U.S.A. 1.5-2.0 20

The total commodity wise demand (in volume terms) that has been estimated in some
selected export markets (Germany, Holland, UK, Switzerland, USA, and Japan) by the FIBL
& ORG- MARG survey which shows that for Banana it is around 6,410 tons, for wheat and
soy bean is 1,000 tons, for pineapple around is 900 tons and for mango this is around 650
tons (Garibay S V and Jyoti K, 2003).

The attractiveness of organic market is also getting enhanced because of the price
premium that these products have over the conventionally produced products. These price
premium for various organic produces vary in different countries depending upon the
existing distribution channels and the current market conditions. This premium varies by 30-
50% (trader level) for different organic products.

27
As seen from above there is an immense opportunities for organic agricultural exports for
Indian to exploit. But some of the prerequisites for exploiting this potential include:

• Farmers should have the capacity to produce the organically the agricultural
products which can have global market and

• Prior experience required from exporters and traders to exporting agricultural

commodities to these markets

In the Fig 10 there is an attempt has been made by the case study the case study
researcher (Siddarth Jain and Deepti Behl (2007)) to develop a matrix by depicting the
conventional agricultural commodities, which India has been exporting to various countries
across the world, as well as the existence of organic market for these commodities in these
countries. Depicting the current conventional agricultural market indicates the capabilities of
India to export the specific agricultural commodities to these countries and similarly also
depicting the existence of organic agriculture market for specific commodities in these
countries reveal the existence of opportunities for the Indian exporter to exporting organic
agricultural commodities. By developing such a matrix they have used annual exports of
agricultural commodities published by CMIE agricultural sector reports and for exploring
organic market in different countries for different commodities they have used data available
in the internet resources. The matrix help us to reveals that India has demonstrated the
capabilities for exporting agricultural commodities like rice, wheat, tea, coffee, spices, oil
meals, sugar, fruits & vegetables etc to countries like USA, U. K, Germany, Japan, France,
Saudi Arabia, South Africa, CIS Countries, Poland, Netherlands, Italy etc. It also helps us to
understand that in most of these countries there is a growing demand for organically
produced commodities, which will attract price premiums ranging from 10% to 100%. This
showcases a window of opportunity for Indian Organic product which have yet to be
exploited to its maximum potentials by Indian exporters and producers of agricultural
commodities.

28
Fig: 10 Conventional agricultural products & their export market and prospective market for Indian organic
products.

Existing conventional export market for Indian producers for particular product

Prospective market for Indian organic products.

V. Domestic Market

In India given the unorganized nature of the domestic organic agriculture market it is difficult
to estimate the magnitude and trends in this growing market, this is also one of the problem
statement which this dissertation is trying to address in a limit study in Pune. Studies and
data available in general have been only on, the sale of organic produces is very limited to
metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. To a large extent
this study and sale is also based on individual initiative of the farmers, Non Governmental
Organizations and some entrepreneurial traders etc. From the data available it shows that
the current domestic organic products market demand is mainly for fruits, vegetables, rice
and wheat. Other products which include tea, coffee and pulses (ORG-MARG Survey,

29
2002). There is a market potential for other commodities like organic spices, fruits, herbal
plants and cotton which are relatively high. For next five years it is projected that the
demand for organic spices would grow by 14%, fruits 8% and that for herbal plants and
cotton it is estimated to be around 7% (ORG-MARG Survey, 2002). The market for different
range of organic agricultural products as shown in Table: 7is estimated to reach up to 1568
tons in 2006-07.

Table: 7 Growth forecast for specific organic products in the domestic market

Product % Projected Growth in the 5 next Years

Spices (all) 14

Pepper 5

Turmeric 4.5

Tea 13

Rice 10

Fruits (all) 8

Banana 15

Mango 5

Orange 5

Pineapple 5

Herbal extracts 7

Cotton 7

Coffee 5

Oil seeds 5

Honey 5

Groundnut 5

Baby food 5

Coconut 5

30
VI Retail sales of Organic Foods in India:

The sketchy patterns of retail are metamorphosing into more organized retail, albeit slowly.
With an estimated 2-3 million potential consumers for organically produced agricultural
products in India, the problem has always been the absence of organized marketing and
retailing.

Organized retail is now slowly picking up and there is growth which has been led by
relatively unknown companies like FabIndia, 24lettermantra, Gopalan etc.

Although these companies are providing a wide variety of organic products, however the
numbers of outlets dedicated to organic food are very few in numbers. In fact Delhi, the
capital of India has only about 3 outlets namely by 24lettermantra, FabIndia (a section of
organic foods) and Dubden (Delhi’s first multibrand retail outlet for organic food).

This itself reflects that the retail for organic is in a nascent stage of the market. Supermarkets
are now increasingly stocking up on organic products that command a 25-30% premium.

The Product List on Organic Food available in Retail outlets as per available data are:

Fresh Fruits & Vegetables :

Fresh fruits
Fresh Vegetables

Staples:

Brown Rice & Other Rice

Whole Wheat Flour, Other Flours, Rava & Amarnath (Ramdan) Flour
Dals, Pulses & Beans
Spices
Masalas
Cold Pressed Edible Oils
Jaggery
Sugar

31
Bakery Items:

Cakes, Breads, Cookies

Processed food:

Snacks & Confectionary

Dried Fruits & Nuts
Honey
Ghee
Jams, Marmalades, Spreads
Pickles

Diary:

Farm Fresh Handmade Natural Cheese

Beverages:

Tea
Coffee

2.4 CONSUMER AWARENESS ON ORGANIC FOODS:

i. Organic Food Consumption in India is on the Rise.

(http://www.agricultureinformation.com/forums/organic-farming/15397-organic-farming-
exports-food-consumption-india.html )

After the pepsi cola controversy the consumer is now watching his diet more closely. Organic
food products have suddenly graduated from a fad to an healthier option. Some people
believed that organic food is only a “concept” popular in the developed countries. They think
that when it comes to organic food, India has only been an exporter of organic food and very
little is consumed internally which is not true anymore. Although 50% of the organic food
produce in India is targeted towards exports, there are many who look towards organic food
for the domestic consumption market. As studies indicate that the Organic Trade Fair in 2007
saw an unprecedented rise in footfalls and sale of organic products as well as in participation

32
of Organic Food Manufacturer. There has also been a record number of enquiries and orders
in the trade fair showing that there exists a huge potential which is ready to be tapped if
supply chain constraints could be eased out.

ACNielsen, a leading market research firm, have recently conducted a surveyed of about
21,000 regular Internet users in 38 countries to find their preference for functional foods –
foods that have additional health benefits. From the survey it was revealed that India was
among the top ten countries where health food, including organic food, was in great demand
by the consumers.

The most important reason in the survey for buying organic food in India was the concern for
the health of children, with over 66 percent parents preferring organic food to non organic
food. Although organic food is priced over 25 percent more than conventional food in India,
many parents are willing to pay this higher premium due to the perceived health benefits of
organic food for their children.

The increase in the organic food consumption in India is evident from the fact that many
organic food stores are spurring up in India. Today (2006) every supermarket has an organic
food store and every large city in India has numerous organic food stores and restaurants.
This is a huge change considering that the first organic food store in Mumbai was started in
1997.

The pattern in which organic food consumption in India has been of a much different than in
the developed countries is in India, consumers prefer organic marmalade, organic
strawberry, organic tea, organic honey, organic cashew butter and various organic flours.

However, the Indian organic food consumer needs to be educated. There are many consumers
who are unaware of the difference between natural and organic food. Many of the people who
purchase products labeled as Natural thinking that they are Organic. Further, consumers are
not aware about the certification system available for organic product. Since the requirement
of certification is not compulsory for domestic retail in India, there are many fake organic
products are available in the market.

33
i. Factors that drive the increase in Organic Food Sector
India’s total food consumption for 2003-04 is estimated at approximately Rs. 8,60,000 crore.
Food consumption growth for 2010 and 2015 at 5% growth in GDP is projected at Rs.
6,68,300 crore and Rs. 8,80,400 crore respectively. The foods market is undergoing a
significant change in consumption patterns with the chief drivers being:
a) Changing age profile
The changing age profile with increasing share of population in the age bracket of
15-59 years, a large proportion of which constitute the active workforce, augurs well
for the growth of food consumption. The youth is typically more inclined to try out
new products, including natural and organic foods.
b) Increasing education and exposure
Upward mobility of income classes is likely to increase the demand for organic foods
as has already been demonstrated in Europe, the USA and more recently, in several
countries in South East Asia. The middle and upper middle income groups in India
are growing faster than the low income groups. Besides, the increased education and
exposure levels due to travel as well as the media help in building awareness of the
organic products, thereby creating a high demand.
c) Increasing health consciousness
Increasing health consciousness and growing concern about environmental issues
with changing lifestyles will further drive growth of products which are hygienic and
healthy. Organic foods being healthier will certainly have an edge in the increasing
demand from health conscious consumers
d) Need for convenience
Another important lifestyle related aspect is the need for convenience – which
includes convenience in purchase as well as convenience in carrying, cooking and
eating. Organic processed foods, including ready to cook and ready to eat products,
will be increasingly in demand.

2.5 Problems faced by the organic food industry in India

Major problems facing the organic food industry can be categorised in three parts.
1 .Awareness about organic food is not high. Among the people who are aware about organic
food majority of them are not clear about the definition.
2. Lack of certification for identifying the organic food products can be one of the causes.

34
3. Lack of easy availability and effective promotions also add to a dismal state of affairs in
terms of organic food sales.

2.6 Future of organic industry in India

The purchase of organic food product definitely increases the current kitchen budget by
roughly 25% but still the future is definitely one that we can look up to. Rising amount of
disposable income, education and awareness levels with increasing health consciousness
among consumers promises a shining future for the new found industry in India. Also, we see
that this market will also help to change the current status of the Indian agriculture and we
will see a better future for the organic farmer. But the government help is needed and
analyzing the current state of the industry we can be hopeful that the government will
continue its endeavour of accepting new ideas and also of starting aids for the states to
promote this kind of farming keeping with the interests of the producer. Another factor which
will impact the popularity of organic food items will be marketing and promotion coupled
with affective sales and distribution of organic produce which is a big challenge. This can be
definitely taken care by the upcoming retail stores and also by the industry as a whole (trade
fairs being one such example). There is a lot of help by certain non government organizations
in the promotion of both producing and distributing of organic produce which again act as a
beneficiary for the industry. Thus, we can hope for a good growth in this industry in both
domestic and international (exports) market.

2.7 SUMMARY:

35
Organic agriculture is a system approach to agricultural production that is working towards
an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable production (Shepherd et al., 2003).
As seen in the definition of Organic Farming by APEDA, it minimises the damage to
environment.

There have been many comprehensive assessments over the effects of organic farming on
environment. Many of the researches show positive attributes on environment. One of the
assessments was done by Shepherd et al. It had the following reviews.

Organic farming has positive effects over the biodiversity. There is a benefit to wildlife
conservation on organic farms (also Hole et al, 2005). For a sustainable organic system,
maintaining and enhancing biodiversity is considered to be vital because increase in
biodiversity plays a functional role by improving nutrient cycling, pest control and disease
control in the production system. And biodiversity is enhanced and increased because of the
prohibition of synthetic fertilisers, agrochemicals and veterinary medicines, which removes
direct or indirect problems for wildlife.

Organic farmers pay more attention towards the soil. Crop rotation is a fundamental principal
of organic farming in order to feed the soil, to maintain its organic matter content and keep it
in a good condition. They aim at producing good food from balanced living soil and place
strong emphasis on protecting the environment (APEDA). Soil structure benefits from regular
returns of organic matter in the soil and the evidence has shown that soil structure is good
under organic practices. Restrictions over the use of pesticides and veterinary medicines such
as antibiotics also benefits soil organisms.
Also, with the restricted use of pesticides and fertilisers in organic farming, the water quality
and air quality is better than the use of conventional farming. Due to no use of pesticides and
harmful chemicals the water in the farming is not polluted which may be used for irrigation
and drinking by the animals that are grazing on the field. In organic farming, the organic
matter also temporarily stores CO2 which reduces air pollution. Major air pollution is caused
due to burning of fossil fuel which is done least in organic farming.
Organic methods are energy efficient. They use less energy for both crops and livestock types
and overall on a whole-farm basis. Organic systems operate a smaller nutrient surplus which
is taken as an advantage providing that nutrient reserves are not being reduced. Restrictions

36
on use of various fertilisers are on the basis of encouraging self-sufficiency in a system and
also show concern about the harm they cause to the ecosystem.
Organic Farming has a positive impact upon environment. However, there are still many
studies and assessments going on, on this topic. It is seen that organic farming increases
biodiversity and enhances minerals in soil without use of pesticides and chemicals. It
improves water quality and reduces air pollution. It is energy efficient. It uses less non-
renewable resources and minimises wastage as it rely less on external inputs.
As discussed in the mid-section of this chapter, there has been a significant growth in the
organic food market and it still has more potential to grow. Consumers are positive about
organic products and are concerned about their health which is making them choose food
sensibly. They are willing to spend more for an organic label. Government should inform and
make consumers aware more properly about the organic products, so that they know that they
are spending on the right type of food. Government should undertake proper research and
study and educate consumers about the benefits organic farming provides to the environment
and the way it considers animal welfare.

37
CHAPTER THREE: - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION:

This chapter presents the design of the research conducted, which is to study the consumers’
perception towards organic food. It includes objectives of the study undertaken, research
design, sampling procedure, data collection, method and procedure for data collection and
data analysis.

3.2 OBJECTIVES:

Further research has to be done to find out the reasons which are leading to the increase in
demand for organic food and to find out what exactly consumers perceive about organic food
in Indian market. The objectives of this research are-

• To investigate the knowledge of consumers regarding organic foods and its

advantages and,
• To explore the reasons that are raising the demand for organic foods

3.3 DATA COLLECTION:

This research attempts at studying the knowledge of the consumers about organic foods and
their reasons for demanding organic food. Therefore, reliability and soundness of the
collection of data is fundamental. Hence, both primary and secondary sources of collection of
data are used. Primary data, according to Malhotra and Birks (2007), is “data originated by a
researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand”. It is the collection of
data to solve the problem under investigation (McDaniel and Gates, 1999). Primary data
refers to the new data gathered to solve the research problem. This method of collecting data
can be time consuming and expensive as it is conducted by the researcher himself. The other

38
type of data is Secondary data. This is the data previously collected for a purpose of other
than the problem at hand (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). This data is not collected by the
researcher himself. This data is gathered by the researcher from different sources like
government, computer database, research companies, business sources etc. and only might be
relevant to the problem at hand (McDaniel and Gates, 1999). Secondary data are easily
available, less time consuming and less expensive.

3.3.1 Sources:

The collection of primary data was done with the help of a questionnaire prepared by the
researcher which was distributed to the respondents in Pune city. Respondents were selected
from three different places in the city, one is posh extra located onVimannagar/Aundh, other
is offices mostly IT and sectors like government/ college professor and Kalyaninagar area
which is situated in the heart of the city, it is a huge shopping market.

Secondary data was collected from the TASMAC library and other electronic sources major
being the Internet and case studies published in the Internet. Many electronic academic
journals and news articles were taken from the electronic sources of the university. Some e-
books, journals, articles and news extracts were referred online. Some data was also collected
from reliable websites like Indian government website/certification websites specially
promoting organic agriculture and organic product.

3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN:

Research design is the foundation for conducting marketing research. To answer the
objectives a proper research design must be selected. As defined by Malhotra and Birks
(2007), “a research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting a marketing research
project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure
and solve marketing research problems.”

Generally Qualitative and Quantitative research designs are used. Qualitative research as
defined by Malhotra and Birks (2007) is an unstructured design based on small samples,
intended to provide insights and understanding. Whereas, Quantitative research is a technique

39
that seek to quantify data and apply some form of statistical analysis. It is the study that uses
mathematical analysis (McDaniel and Gates, 1999). In qualitative research, data is collected,
analysed and interpreted but not by using numbers. It is done qualitatively. On the other hand,
quantitative research involves data collection, respondents’ sample and numerical calculation
of the data collected (Chisnall, 2005)

The Qualitative research technique is used in a situation where small sample of the entire
population is focussed- group interviews are needed, in-dept interview is carried out and
observations are non-structured. In the case of research for organic foods, this technique is
not applicable as questioning just a few people is not considered adequate for representing the
entire population. The result may be biased. In this research which is to know consumers’
perception towards organic food, an approach which covers a larger group is needed in order
to represent the entire population. Hence, quantitative research approach is used. In this
approach, a large sample size is selected and data is collected through a structured
questionnaire. To know the consumers’ attitudes towards organic food, the Likert scale is
used. Respondents are provided with statements that expresses their agreement or
disagreement (McDaniel and Gates, 1999).

Hence, it is a research which has to be carried out by a large scale questionnaire. Therefore,
quantitative technique fits the best with this research and collection of primary data. Different
statistical tools are used for analysing the data collected from the questionnaire and results are
obtained.

3.5 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION:

There are several methods of data collection like observation, experiments and survey. The
observation method for research involves monitoring respondents’ action indirectly. In this
research, the observation method is not applicable as the study is about the consumers’
knowledge and reason for increase in demand for organic food. By observing the consumers’
actions, data cannot be collected regarding their knowledge. Therefore, this method was not
used. Another method for collecting data is to conduct experiments. This method studies
effect of change of one or more variable on the other variable. This change of one or more

40
variables is brought about by the researcher. As mentioned above, the study is about the
knowledge and reason for demand and not the effects due to changes in the variables. Hence,
this method was also eliminated. The third method was adopted which is to conduct surveys.
This method of data collection is most suitable for this dissertation as it involves interacting
with the respondents to obtain facts, opinions, behaviours, awareness attitudes etc. It involves
the use of a structured questionnaire given to a sample population and respondents are asked
to give their first choice for the questions.

There are several survey techniques but amongst others the self-administered questionnaire
technique was selected for this research. This technique is different from other survey
methods as it does not involve any interviewer. In this technique, a previously prepared
formal questionnaire is used to present the questions in a prearranged order.

The advantages of using this technique for the survey are:

• A questionnaire is simple to administer.

• The data obtained is consistent because the responses are limited to the alternatives
stated.
• The questions can be diversified and asked, despite the absence of an interviewer.
• The respondents are also assured that their identities will not be disclosed and remain
anonymous.
• The respondents’ tendency to give answers which are socially accepted is eliminated
through this technique as the researcher does not interview the respondents, nor does
he monitor the respondents’ answers.
• Sensitive information can be obtained through this technique which is difficult to
obtain through an interview.
• It is also the quickest way, as the survey is carried out in central locations where there
are potential respondents
• And finally coding, analysing and interpretation of data is relatively simple.

41
But there are disadvantages also to this technique, which are as follows:

• Respondents may be unable or unwilling to provide the required specific information.

• As there is no interaction with the researcher or interviewer, the respondent may not
understand some question or may not be willing to answer some personal questions to
which the researcher or interviewer may convince them and explain the reason for
asking the question
• With limited alternatives and the ‘choose any one’ option makes the respondents
unable to provide accurate answers to the questions asked.
• Wording questions is not easy. Use of proper language is important otherwise
questions or respondents become biased.
• Although the researcher has control over which respondent to intercept, the choice is
limited to the people walking on the streets or the shoppers in the shop on the day of
survey. The researcher could miss out the potential respondents not present. Or
potential respondent may also avoid contact with the researcher.

Despite these limitations, this method accomplishes the objectives and gives good
results.

3.6 INSTRUMENT:

Questionnaire was used as an instrument for this research. It was designed in a manner which
would meet the needs of the research objectives. For this purpose, the questionnaire was
divided into three parts. The First part consisted of questions about the demography such as
gender, age, qualification, occupation, children if any and household income. In second part
questions were designed to know the knowledge of the respondents about organic food and
also to know whether they purchase organic products and their buying behaviour. This last
part of the questions related to reasons of their purchase of organic food were asked.
To measure the respondents’ answers, the Likert scale was used, which is easily understood
by the respondents. Questions from 7 to 19 were scaled as strongly agree, agree, disagree,
strongly disagree and don’t know to which respondents were asked to specify their responses.

42
3.7 CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH:

The research aims to find out the perception of consumers’ towards organic food and the
reasons that are increasing the demand for organic food. The research was carried out in Pune
city at posh residential places, offices and retail malls. These places were selected for
conducting the research as Vimannagar, Aundh and Kalyaninagar are the major big stores
from where the consumers purchase organic food and the number of consumers for organic
foods is increasing each year in these stores. Kalyaninagar was selected as it is a crowded
place and respondents are easily available. All these places are in different parts of the city
and away from each other, which proves the dependability and reliability of the collected
data.

3.8 SAMPLING PROCEDURE:

A sample is a subset which is selected from a larger population (McDaniel and Gates, 1999
and Malhotra and Birks, 2007). Sampling is used for studies as compared to census because it
reduces cost, time available is short and population size is large. Therefore, sampling is used
as it represents larger educated and professional population.
There are two techniques of sampling. One non-probability sampling and the other is
probability sampling. Non-probability sampling technique does not select a sample randomly
and is selected based on the personal judgement of the researcher. On the other hand,
probability sampling technique is a procedure in which each element is selected by chance
and probability of selecting each sample could be drawn. For the purpose of conducting the
research on organic foods, samples were selected on the basis of judgement and convenience
of the researcher. Further, the researcher did not have any list of population for selecting a
sample. Therefore, probability sampling technique does not apply to this research.
Non-probability sampling technique was used. This technique is further classified into
convenience sampling, judgemental sampling, quota sampling and snowball sampling.
Convenience sampling was used for the research which attempts to obtain a sample of
convenient elements and respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right place
at the right time. The advantages of convenience sampling is that it is least expensive and
least time consuming, sampling units are accessible, easy to measure and cooperative. The
researcher selected the sample from posh residential centre as it was convenient and the

43
sample units were easily and readily accessible. Despite the above advantages, this sampling
technique has serious limitations. Selected sources which look potential can be biased,
including respondent self-selection itself. They do not represent a definable population.
Hence, from convenience sampling, generalization of population is not in a statistical fashion.
After considering the above stated disadvantages, this technique was selected and concluded
to be suitable for this research because of the time limitation, easy access to the sample units
and convenience of selecting the sample. Therefore, this technique was found suitable for this
research and collection of data.

3.8.1 Sample size:

The aim was to have 50% male and 50% female ratio in the sample. However, after the
research was carried out, the actual sample consisted of 116 males and 84 females, which is
52% and 48% respectively. It was almost 50%. It was difficult to contact the entire
population. Therefore, with the help of convenience sampling, samples were selected. For
this research, 200 consumers were selected as a sample and were requested to participate in
the survey. Out of 200, some questions had multiple answers. Hence, the remaining
questionnaires were analyzed, interpreted and the result led to fulfil the objectives of this
study.

3.9 PROCEDURE FOR DATA COLLECTION:

As stated above, for the purpose of this research a structured questionnaire used to collect the
primary data. The survey was conducted between 5th Jun 2009 and 7th October 2009 at
different timings, different days and at different locations as mentioned above as well as in
the following table.

Table 2: Schedule of different place visited in Cardiff city for data collection

Date/Day Place Timing

6th Jul 2009 Vimannagar Area 5:30pm to 8:30pm
24th Jul2009 Kalyani Nagar
6th Jun 2009 Office (eMail)
24th Jun 2009
9th Aug 2009 Malls centre(KalyaniNagar) 4:30pm to 6:00pm

44
In all, five hours were spent on different locations on different days and at different timings
for collection of data. Weekends were selected to carry out the survey in Malls and
residential areas because usually on weekends more people are found at the supermarkets for
household purchasing. Most of the shoppers will also be available at Malls on weekends. This
was done to come across diverse respondents in order to obtain a variety of responses so that
the sample can represent the entire population. This was also done to increase reliability and
creditability of the research.

3.10 DATA ANALYSIS:

After the data was collected from the sample, the next step is to analyse and interpret the
data. Cross tabulation and means were used for analysis of the various types of data
collected. In this research, data is represented by the use of charts and tables and the data
is interpreted by the means of percentages and calculations.

45
CHAPTER FOUR: - ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 INTRODUCTION:

This chapter examines, gives an overview and provides results for the data collected during
the survey. It includes the general information, analysis and interpretation of the questions
through various tools and measures. It provides answer to the objectives of the research from
the findings of the data.
This chapter begins with the analysis of the demographics of the respondents. The purpose of
this exercise is to provide general information about the respondents. The second section of
this chapter is about the findings of the first objective of the research which is related to the
knowledge and advantages that consumers have about organic food. The third section deals
with fulfilling the second objective which is to investigate the reasons of rise in demand for
organic food. Cross tabulation and means are the measures and tools employed for the
analysis of this research. Charts and Tables are used for presenting the data and results.

4.2 ANALYSIS OF DEMOGRAPHICS:

It is important to know the general profile of the respondents who participated in the survey
in order to comprehend the data results. 200 respondents participated in the survey out of
which some questionnaires had multiple answers. Hence, the analysis has been done on the
remaining considering the best of the options in the questionnaires. Gender, age,
qualification, occupation, children and household income was the information asked in the
demographic section of the questionnaire.

46
4.2.1 Gender Profile of the Respondents:
Figure1 shows that out of 200 respondents, 103 were males and 60 respondents were female,
i.e. 52% males and 48% females. The data shows that almost equal numbers of people from
both the genders were targeted. Hence, the sample is not dominated by a single gender.
Therefore, this question has shown that evaluating both the genders in an effective manner,
which comprises almost equal males and females in the sample population, will bring out a
better picture of the results to answer the research objectives.

Figure 1: Gender Profile of the Respondents

No. Of Respondent

120 103
100
80 60
60
40
20
0
Male Female

4.2.2 Age Profile of the Respondents:

From the questionnaire, section 1 was regarding the age profile of the respondents.
The results are as follows:

47
Figure 2: Age Profile of the Respondents

Age Profile of Respondent

77 75
80
70
60
50
40
30
20 8
10 3
0
Less than 21 - 30 31 - 40 Above 40
20 year’s year’s
Age

It is seen from the figure that maximum number of respondents fall between the age group of
21-30. Exactly 77 respondents were in this age group. This comprised of 40.7% of the total
sample. 11 and 12 respondents fall between the age group of 18-24 and 46-55 respectively. In
the age group of 55 and above there were 7 respondents. And a small number of respondents
were in the age group of under 18 but were above 16 years of age.

4.2.3 Qualification Profile of the Respondents:

The figure below describes that maximum number of respondents which comprised 49% of
the sample were educated upto high school. In contrast to this, only 11.4% had completed
post graduation. 22.6% were graduated and 17% were undergraduates. This signifies that
majority of the respondents in the sample were high school educated and on an average
people were well educated.

48
Figure 3: Qualification Profile of the Respondents

Qu alification Pro file o f th e Re sp o nd e nt

Post Graduate 59

Graduate 85

19
Undergraduate

0 20 40 60 80 100

4.2.4 Occupation Profile of the Respondents:

Figure 4 below, shows that 54% of respondents were employed. Businessmen comprised only
of 5.7% of the total sample size. Others (which inculdes housewives, retired people, presently
unemployed etc) and students comprised of almost equal percentages of the sample i.e .7%
and 18.9% respectively.

49
Figure 4: Occupation Profile of the Respondents

Occupation Profile of Respondent

Housewife
Service
Business

Business

Service
Housewife

4.2.5 Children Profile of the Respondents:

Question nos. 25 and 26 of the questionnaire were related to the children profile of the
respondents. Question no. 25 asked if the respondent had children. If the answer was positive,
question no. 26 was to be answered. Question no. 26 is asked if the respondents had any
children under 15 years of age. This question was asked to investigate the number of
respondents who buy organic who have children under the age of 15 years. Figure 5 shows
the number of respondents having children, and if any, under 15 years of age.

50
Figure 5: Children Profile of the Respondents
i) Childern ii) Children if under the age of 15 years

R e s p o n d e n t w i t h C h il d r e n C h ild ern if u n d er a g e o f 1 5 Y ea rs

A bove 15,
Y e s , 3 0 .0 6 % 1 2 .2 4 %
U n der 15,
N o , 6 9 .9 4 % 8 7 .7 6 %
Y es U n d er 1 5
No A bove 15

The above figure depicts that the researcher has got a good sample as nerly 50% of the
respondents answer both the questions. 53% of the respondents have children and 47% of the
respondents do not have children. Out of 53% of the respondents having children, 50% said
they have children under the age of 15 years and 50% said NO. This gives the researcher a
good data for analysis and comparison. This question related to children was asked to check
the relibility with the report of Soil Association (2007) and Mintel (2008) which stated that
consumers prefer organic food because they are concerned about their children’s health. By
the means of cross tabulation of children profile of the respondents with the frequency of
buying organic foods, results were derived to conclude whether respondents having children
under 15 years of age are the major purchasers organic food or not.

4.2.6 Household Income Profile of the Respondents:

Organic being a premium product, its sale depends upon the consumers earnings. Consumers
earning good money can afford to spend on organic products. The following figure gives the
data regarding the earnings of the respondents.

Figure 6: Household Income of the Respondents

51
 Household Income of the Respondent

60 55
50 46

40
30 30
30
Household Income of
the Respondent
20

10

0
5000 - 10001 – 20001– Above
10000 20000 50000 40000

The figure 6 above, shows that the researcher’s sample consists of a people who are sound
earners. This will give positve results for the research. If there were more respondents in the
group of under RS 10,000 the results of the study could have been negative as people of that
income group would not spend on organic products whose costs are more than the normal
conventional food. From the figure it can be seen that major respondents were from the group
having a household income over RS 30,000. This comprises of about 35.9% of the total
sample. This was followed by RS 20,000-30,000 and RS 10,00-20,000 household income
group comprising of 22.6% and 20.8% of the total sample respectively. Students comprised
of 13.2% and respondents having household income of RS 10,000 comprised of only 7.5%.

52
4.3 ANALYSIS OF THE DATA:

4.3.1 Consumers’ Perception towards Knowledge and Advantages

of Organic Food:

To answer the first research objective of the research, the first part of questionnaire was
formed to investigate the knowledge and advantages of organic food according to consumers.
Further the first part of questionnaire was divided into two sections, i.e question no.7 to 9
were designed to know the knowledge of the consumers regarding organic food and quesiton
no.10 to 14 were formed to understand what they feel are the advantages of the organic food.
Knowledge:
i) Awareness:
First question was asked if they were aware about organic food. After the analysis of the
questionnaiers it was clear that all the respondents (95.71%) were aware about organic food.
This tells us that a large number of people are acquainted to organic food in the market and
have some idea regarding it.

ii) Define Organic Food:

The second question asked the respondents to define organic food. The answer to this
question would help understand consumers’ opinions about organic food. It would also help
understanding the awareness about organic food and its characteristic known by the
consumer.

53
Table 3: Terms defined as Organic Food

Terms defined as Organic No. of Percentage

Food respondents
Chemical free 84 51.53%
Soil Association symbol 8 4.91%
Naturally grown 36 22.09%
Not Genetically Modified 4 2.45%
No use of growth 15 9.20%
enhancement, additives
Free range/ All Natural 0 0.00%
Home grown 3 1.84%
Healthy food 13 7.98%
Care of animals 0 0.00%

As answered by the respondents, majority of the respondents have defined organic food as
chemical free, fertilizer free and pesticide free. They believe that organic foods are grown
without the use of chemicals and pesticides and artificial fertilizers. 100% consumers are not
only aware, but also know that organic foods are produced without the use of harmful
chemicals. Some people defined organic food as ‘food produced without the use of chemicals
in the soil’, which is the perfect meaning of organic food which is also defined by APEDA
and The National Program for Organic Production as mentioned in the literature review. They
defined organic food as produce which is grown without the use of man-made chemicals,
pesticides, artificial fertilizers and ensuring that the life of the soil is maintained.

Some have also declared that organic foods are defined by the soil association’s symbol.
They usually look for the soil association symbol on the product which gives them guarantee
that the produce is organic. As discussed in the literature review, for any product to be
labelled as organic, it needs to be registered and have certification from the governing bodies
like the NSCOP. This implies that people are aware that they should look for the symbol of
the governing bodies to be assured that the product that they are buying is 100% organic.

54
Ample numbers of the respondents have said that organic foods are naturally grown. They are
naturally produced without the use of chemicals and pesticides by using natural fertilizers and
that they are environment friendly.

Quite a few respondents also mentioned that organic foods are not genetically modified. A
small number of respondents also said that organic foods use nothing artificial like colours
and flavours. Few defined it as healthy food.

A small amount of respondents have also mentioned that organic food do not use artificial
additives, antibiotics, artificial growth enhancement and growth hormones. One respondent
also stated that organic foods trait is that it is misshapen and that is how it should be. She
believes that organic food which is grown naturally without the use of chemicals and sprays
and pesticides, the output is natural which is not in the exact shape as its other same produce.
In contrast, the produces of conventional food have nearly exact shape.

The terms like ‘all natural’ and ‘free range’ have also been used by few respondents to define
organic food. This proves that confusion still confusion exists with the term ‘organic’ which
is argued by different researchers as discussed by Hughner (2007). The term ‘home grown’ is
also used to define organic food. This was not clear as to what the respondents exactly meant
by home grown to define organic food.

iii) Difference between organic and conventional food:

In the questionnaire the third question was formed to find out what the consumers believed
was the major difference in the production of organic food as compared to that of
conventional food. This question was asked so as to know what knowledge respondents have
about the production of organic food. How it is different from the production of conventional
food?

Table 4: Major difference in production between Organic Food and Conventional Food

55
Difference No. of Percentage
respondents
Without use of chemicals 82 50.31%
Quality 15 9.20%
Better taste 9 5.52%
Not processed 15 9.20%
Expensive 4 2.45%
Healthier 10 6.13%
No use growth hormones 7 4.29%
Grown naturally 17 10.43%
Environment Friendly 4 2.45%
Massive quantity of 0 0.00%
conventional food

Most of the respondents believe that the major difference in the production of organic food
as compared to conventional food is that the organic foods are produced/grown without the
use of chemical, pesticides and fertilizers. It is naturally grown without the artifical chemical
intervention. They are grown without pesticides and chemical preservatives. Processing of
the food is not done and are non manufactured. Natural ingredients are used. And is certified
as being produced in soil with no chemicals.
In contrast, convnetional food, they believe are grown using chemicals, fertilizers and
pesticides. The produce have a uniform shape. Sprays and chemicals are used while growing,
to produce more yeild to meet demand, example strawberries in winter. Conventional foods
are produced speedily and in massive quantities. Their main objective is to see how many can
be sold from the crop once grown.
Respondents also stated that quality is also another factor that differentiates organic food
from conventional food. Organic food gives importance to quality, whereas, conventional
food focuses on quantity. Few have also mentioned that organic food has better taste than
conventinal food because there is no use of chemicals and other artificial ingredients in

56
organic food. The ground on which organic foods are grown are not fertilized by chemicals
which gives less toxins for the body to metabolize. Quality of nutrients are present. No
chemicals are used and therefore, the growth process is longer. Since organic foods are grown
natually, there is purity in the food.

Price is the major difference for few respondents. Organic food is more expensive as
compared to conventional food. They quoted that the cost factor is more in organic food
whereas, conventional foods are cheaper.

Quite a few of the respondents feel that the major difference is that organic food is healthier
than conventional food. Few mentioned that it takes care of the soil and animals are fed with
no growth hormones. Most of them belive that it affects the directly. It makes a positive
difference in the environment. They have stated that organic food is environment friendly.
The production process makes a difference in the environment. Finally, welfare of the food
and the planet is taken care of.

Only some of the respondents felt that there is no difference in the production of organic food
and conventional food. This can be explained as the those respondents lack knowledge about
the production processes of organic food and conventional food.

iv) Fastest growing sector:

The question asked was ‘Do you know that organic food is one of the fastest growing sectors
in food industry?’ following were the results regarding this question.

57
Figure 7. Fastest growing food sector

F a s t e st g r o w i n g fo o d s e c t o r

N o , 2 2 .7 0 %

Y e s, 7 7 .3 0 %
Y es
No

Figure 7 above, depicts that 67% of the respondents know that the organic sector is one of the
fastest growing sectors in the food industry. This can be understood as the respondents are
updated about the organic food industry. 67% of the sample population is interested in
knowing where the organic food industry is moving towards. This can also be infered as they
have interest because they being reading and hearing through various means of
advertisments, journals, articles etc about the benefits of organic food. One third of the
sample population is unaware of the growth of the organic food industry.This is not a small
ratio.

Advantges:
To know the consumers’ perception towards the advantages of the organic food, as
mentioned above question no.7 to 11 and 12 were formed and were measured on the basis of
the Likert scale to know the respondents’ agreement and disagreement. For the analysis part,
the responses were given numbers from 5 to 1. 5 being strongly agree and 1 meaning strongly
disagree. 3 was scaled as ‘don’t know’ which means neither agree nor disagree. Hence, if the
mean score is less than 2.5 then the respondents are assumed to disagree. If the mean score is
between 2.5 and 3.5 then it is neither agree nor disagree that mean its don’t know. And if it is
above 3.5 then the respondents are assumed to agree. By the use of statistical tools following
mean scores were found.

58
Table 5: Means score of the statements regarding advantages of organic food

Consumers responses towards the advantages of organic food Mean Score

Organic food is Healthier than normal conventional food 3.85
Organic food is Safer 3.5
Organic food Tastes Better 3.67
Organic food helps Animal Welfare 4.19
Organic food has Positive Impact on Environment 4.02

Statement 1: Organic food is Healthier than normal conventional food.

For this statement mean the score of the respondents’ is 3.85 which depicts that respondents
on an average agree that organic food is healthier than conventional food. The mean score is
below 4.00 because there were respondents who did not agree with this statement. Total 6
respondents did not agree with the statement that organic food is healthier than conventional
food. There were only 5 respondents who neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement.
This may be because of the lack of research and poor studies on the healthiness factor
between conventional and organic food.

Statement 2: Organic food is Safer than conventional food.

The mean score for this statement is 3.5. This is infered as respondents agree as well as
repondents don’t know much about the safe factor in organic food against conventional food.
35 respondents agreed with this statement. Whereas, 9 disagreed, 2 strongly disagreed and 7
respondents neither agreed nor disagreed. This tells us that respondents are not sure if organic
foods are safer than conventional food. For this again no proper reliable results can be the
reason that respondents are not sure about the safe factor of organic foods.

Statement 3: Organic food has a Better Taste than conventional food.

The mean score of 3.67 shows that respondents agree with this statement. Respondents feel
that organic food tastes better than conventional food. But there were 11 respondents who do
not agree with the statement, 9 respondent who did not feel much of difference between both
type of food and hence the score is 3.67 just above don’t know. The taste of the food depends

59
largely upon the cooking abilities. Also, due to the use of artificial flavours in conventional
food, it becomes difficult to judge which tastes better.

Statement 4: Organic foods have a Positive Impact on Environment.

This statement has a mean score of 4.19 which shows the respondents’ towards the
environment factor. Respondents greatly believe that organic foods have a positive impact on
the environment. 16 respondents strongly agreed with this statement and 32 respondents
agreed. Only 6 respondents were neutral with the response. The reason behind this strong
agreement from the respondents could be because there is no use chemicals respondents
believe that it does not pollute soil, air and water, which helps in keeping environment
chemical free.

Statement 5: Organic food Helps Animal Welfare.

The mean score for this statement is 4.02 which implies that respondents agree with this
statement. Total 44 respondents agreed with this statement. Only one repondent disagreed
and 9 were of nil opinion. Respondents agree that organic food helps animals as it does not
feed the animals growth hormones and other artificial growth medicines unlike conventional
food.
In Addition:
Respondents were also asked if they thought eating organic is a lifestyle choice. The figure 8
below, shows that 126 respondents that means 77% of the sample population agreed with the
statement that eating organic food is a lifestyle choice, and 37 respondents strongly agreed
with the statement. Combining the two leads to 87% of the sample population agreeing with
the statemenmt. Only 13% of the respondents do not feel that eating organic food is a
lifestyle choice.

Figure 8: Eating Organic food is a lifestly choice

60
 Eating Organic is a Lifestyle Choice

No

Eating Organic is a
Lifestyle Choice

Yes

0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00%

This can be due to the reason that organic foods are costly. They are premiumly priced which
makes organic foods affordable only to high earners as compared to conventional food which
is affordable by everyone. Paying more for the same kind of food (as compared to the price).
People think it is a matter of lifestyle. Hence, respondents feel that eating organic is a
lifestyle choice.

4.3.2 Reasons that are raising the Demand for Organic Foods:

To asnwer the second objective of the research, question no.13 was asked. This question
asked the respondents if they bought organic food and how frequently did they buy organic
food. Question no.14 in particular finds out why consumers buy organic food. What is their
main reason to buy organic food?

i)Frequency of buying Organic Food:

As found in the above analysis of the knowledge regarding organic food, people are aware of
organic foods and have mentioned what organic food is and what are is characteristics and
advantages. In this section, apart from knowing about organic food, it will become clear as to
how many of the respondents actually buy organic foods. Figure 9 gives the results.

61
Figure 9: Frequency of buying Organic Food

Frequency Of Buying Organic Food

7
Always
59
Frequently
Frequency Of
91 Buying Organic
Rarely
Food
6
Never

0 20 40 60 80 100

The above figure 9 depicts that there are more frequent buyers of organic food. 59
respondents which comprise of 36% of the total sample, frequently purchase organic foods.
The number of respondents who rarely buy organic foods is 91, which is very high. Only
4.29% of the respondents always buy organic foods apart from being acquainted with organic
food. 3% of the sample population i.e. 6 respondents never buy organic food.

ii) Response to the reasons for their purchase:

To know the response to different reasons for purchase of organic food question nos.14 were
formed. As mentioned earlier, for these question also, the Likert scale was used and for
analysis they were numbered from 5 to 1. It may also be noted that out of 54 respondents, 18
respondents had marked the coloumn ‘do not purchase’. Therefore, the mean score is derived
from the remaining 36 respondents. The following table gives the mean score for the
responses of the respondents.

Table 6: Mean score for the statements regarding the reasons of purchase

Consumers responses towards reasons for their purchase of Mean Score

organic food
Because it is Healthy 3.89
It Tastes Better 3.61
Positive impact on Environment 3.69
Helps Animal Welfare 3.5

62
Statement 1: I Purchase Organic food because it is Healthy.
This statement has a mean score of 3.89 which is the highest amongst the other reasons. It
states that respondents agree that they purchase organic food for health concerns. It states that
majority of the respondents purchase organic food because it is healthy. Agreeness for this
statement is high because respondents know that organic foods do not use chemicals and
pesticides which affects their health. And when it comes to paying more for organic, then the
consumers give health higher priority and purchase organic foods.

Statement 2: I Purchase Organic food because it Tastes Better.

The mean score for this statement is 3.61. This shows that respondents agree that they
purchase organic food because of the taste factor. This reason is however, not as high as the
health factor. 7 respondents disagree with this statement and 28 respondents agree out of
which 5 respondents strongly agree.

Statement 3: I Purchase Organic food because of Positive Impact on Environment.

The mean score of 3.69 for this statement depicts that respondents agree with this statement.
They purchase organic food because it has a positive impact on the environment.
Respondents are aware about the environment conditions and are also aware that organic
food has a good impact on the environment as it does not use chemicals which pollute air,
soil and water which ultimately benefits human health.

Statement 4: I Purchase Organic food because it Helps Animal Welfare.

Having a mean score of 3.5 suggests that respondents agree as well as do not agree that they
demand organic food because it helps animal welfare. 12 respondents disagree that they
purchase organic food because of animal welfare.

Thus, above are the reasons because of which consumers demand organic food. All the
reasons form factors for demand for organic food. It is healthy, it tastes better, have positive
impact on environment and helps animal welfare. All these factors lead to the purchase of
organic food.

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iii) Main Reason for Demand for Organic Food:
To know the consumers’ main reason for demanding organic food, question no.17 was
structured. Respondents were suppose to give their main motive for purchasing organic food.
By cross tabulation of question no.5 and question no.17 we get a clearer picture of the main
motive corresponding to frequency of buying. Following table gives information regarding
the main motive of organic purchase.

Table 7: Cross tabulation of Frequency of Buying and Main motive for Demand

Main Healt Safet Environmen Animal Lifestyle Out of Do not

motive h y t welfare curiosity purchas
e

Frequency
Of buying
Never - - - - - - 5
Rarely 4 1 3 - - 2 13
Frequently 9 9 1 2 3 1 -
Always - - - 1 - - -

The above table explains that amongst frequent buyers demand is equal for health and safety
reasons i.e. 9 respondent each of frequent buyers. Whereas, from the respondents who buy
organic food rarely 4 respondent demand organic food for health reasons and one for safety
reasons. This depicts that the main motive for the respondents to buy organic food is the
health factor with a total of 13 respondents in favour of this factor. This is followed by the
safety factor with 10 respondents in its favour. These findings relate with the Baker et al.
(2004) and Williamson (2007) statement that consumers main motive to buy organic food is
health factor and food safety.

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From the frequent buyers only one buyer demands organic food due to the environment factor
whereas, from the respondents who rarely purchase organic foods, 3 respondents demand
organic food because of environment reason. This makes the environment the third factor
after health and food safety, with 4 respondents in favour of it. These factors are followed by
other factors such as animal welfare, lifestyle and purchase out of curiosity with 3
respondents each. Amongst rare purchasers, 2 respondents buy organic food out of curiosity
and only one from frequent buyers purchases organic foods out of curiosity. This informs that
frequent buyer do not demand or buy organic foods out of curiosity but they demand it for
some particular reason. No rare purchaser buys organic food for lifestyle reason. Frequent
buyers who can afford to spend, demand organic foods for lifestyle reason.

From the above findings, the second research objective is also completed. It shows that the
prime reason for demand for organic food is health and safety followed by the other reasons
which are environment, animal welfare, lifestyle and curiosity.

Additional Findings:

iv) Cross Tabulation Between Gender and Buying Behaviour:

From this analysis which gender opts more for organic food will be understood.

Table 8: Cross tabulation between Gender and Buying Behaviour

Frequency Of buying Never Rarely Frequently Always

Gender
Male 1 17 10 -
Female 4 6 15 1

The above table 8 represents that despite of larger number of males in the sample population,
females opt more for organic food. In the ‘frequently’ coloumn it is clear that male
respondents are 10 and female respondents are 15 which describes that females frequently
buy organic food. The ‘rarely’ coloumn is dominated by males which contains 17 males as
compared to 6 females. It is understood that males rarely buy organic food whereas females
buy frequently. In the always coloumn also a female respondent is present. This again can be
seen to agree with Soil Association’s report (2007) that major purchasers are women.

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Stobbelaar et al. (2007) also reported that teenage girls have more motive to buy organic food
as they have strong concern towards environment and animal welfare.

v) Cross Tabulation between Income and Buying Behaviour:

This is analysed so as to find out which income groups buy organic food.

Table 9: Cross tabulation of Household Income and Buying Behaviour

Frequency Of buying Never Rarely Frequently Always

Household
Income
Under £10,000 1 2 - 1
£10,000 - £20,000 1 7 3 -
£20,000 - £30,000 1 3 8 -
Over £30,000 1 7 11 -
Student 1 4 3 -

Table 9 portrays that higher household income respondents opt for organic food. It is seen
that respondents with an income of over RS30,000 frequently buy organic food. 1
respondents whose income is over RS30,000 frequently purchase organic food. As the
income goes lower the inclination towards buying organic fades out. There are 8 respondents
in the income group of RS20,000 - RS30,000 and 3 respondents in RS10,000 - RS20,000.
This can be explained as organic foods are highly priced, they are not affordable by everyone.
Hence, high income earners tend to purchase organic food frequently. In contrast to this, the
table shows that in the income group of under RS 10,000 the respondents always purchase
organic food. This explains that buying organic food purely depends upon the choice of the
consumer. If the consumer has proper knowledge about organic food and its benefits then the
consumer cannot resist from purchasing organic food.

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vi) To find out if having children under 15 years of age make a difference in purchasing
organic food:
Recently people have started buying organic food because they care about their children.
Specially if they have children under the age of 15 years. They want them to eat healthy.
Having no chemicals in the food attracts parents having small children towards orgnaic food.
It eliminates the problems children face by eating conventional food as children in a youn age
have a fragile health and get affected easily.

Table 10: Cross Tabulation between Children and Buying Behaviour

Children Children No
under 15 children
years under 15
Frequency years
Of buying
Never 0% 12.5%
Rarely 21% 50%
Frequently 79% 35%
Always 0% 2.5%

The table shows that respondents having children under the age of 15 years opt for organic
food either frequently or rarely. 79% of the respondents who have children under 15 age buy
organic food frequently. And only 21% buy rarely. This signifies that parents having children
under 15 years of age have a positive attitude towards organic and also act in a positive
manner by purchasing organic food. In contrast to this, having no children under 15 years of
age is more often associated with rarely buying organic food. As seen in the table, 50% of the
respondents who do not have children under 15 rarely buy organic food. 12.5% never buy
organic and only 35% buy frequently.
This finding again agrees with the Soil Association (2007) which reported that parents having
children under the age of 15 years are the major purchasers of organic food.

4.4 SUMMARY:

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From the above findings it is clear that all respondents are aware of organic food. It potrays
that the term ‘organic’ is known by all respoondents. They have a good knowledge of organic
food and its chracteristics. But most of the respondents most are unaware of the practices of
organic farming as rightly said by different researchers which was reported by Hughner
(2007). This can be said by observing from table 4 that they have mentioned major
differences in production methods of conventional and organic foods as no use of chemicals,
growth hormones, additives, not processed etc but no one has mentioned that organic
production is done by soil rotation, encouraging biological cycle, feeding through manures,
achieving balance between animal life, natural environment and food crops etc.

Findings of this research agree with Baker et al. (2004) and Williamson (2007) that the main
reason for purchasing of organic food is due to health and food safety factor. Better taste,
impact on enviornment and animal welfare are the secondary concerns. Advantages about
organic foods are known but when it comes to purchasing, not many people buy organic. This
is majorly because of the price factor. As seen in the table 9, high income earners are the ones
who frequently opt for organic food. Also being a parent of a child under the age of 15 years
makes them concerned and inclines them towards purchasing organic food.

CHAPTER FIVE: - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 INTRODUCTION:

In the previous chapter, the data collected was analyzed. With regard to analysis of the data,
this chapter will discuss the main findings and how this research has contributed to the study.
According to the findings, recommendations are made regarding educating more about
organic and on which strategies manager’s could focus. Limitations of the studies are
discussed followed by the scope for further research, which can eliminate the current
limitations. And finally, concluding comments end the study.

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5.2 MAIN FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:

As discussed in chapter 2, the market analyst Datamonitor informed that a study conducted in
2001 reported UK’s organic food market as the fastest growing market amongst other
European countries. The Soil Association in its 2007 report mentioned that the sales of
organic food reached £2 billion in 2006. Datamonitor also said that Britain’s consumers are
set to become Europe’s biggest spenders on organic food. With the organic market growing
at an average rate of 27% a year and consumers ready to spend on organic food, it becomes
necessary to find out and understand what consumers perceive about organic food and why
the demand for organic foods is increasing. Do they have good knowledge about organic food
and how organic foods are grown?

In order to find answers to the above questions, research was conducted. The research was
carried out with the help of a self-administered questionnaire survey and following were the
results.

In this research as we analyze, it was found that 52% of the respondents were males and 48%
were females. It tells us that data is not dominated by one gender. Despite males being a little
more in number, it was found that females are the frequent buyers of organic food. This
stated that women are the major purchasers of organic food. This is because they are more
conscious about their health and what they eat. Children are also one of the reasons because
of whom they opt for organic food. They are also more concerned about animal welfare and
environment as compared to men.

The research had varied respondents, which were aged from 18 years to above 55 years of
age. The age group of 25-45 had maximum respondents. Major respondents were high school
educated, which depicts that sample population was little educated but they had knowledge
about organic food and its characteristics. More than half of the respondents were salaried
persons, handful of them were businessmen and almost equal amount of students and others
(retired, housewives, unemployed etc.). However, the household earnings of most of the
respondents was over Rs 30,000. This shows the buying capacity of the respondents. As seen

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in the previous chapter, there are more frequent buyers. This is because the household income
is high which makes the respondents capable of buying organic food.

The first objective of this research was to find out the knowledge of the consumers regarding
organic foods. From the data collected and analyzed it is clear that all the respondents are
aware about organic food. They are familiar to the word ‘organic’. They understand organic
food as chemical free. Majority of the respondents have defined organic food as chemical,
pesticide and fertilizer free. This research’s findings and Hughner (2007), who shared views
of different researchers, show similar results. Many understand organic food as chemical free.
As mentioned by Wong (2004), people identify organic food as food gone through
certification requirements and that is grown from ‘cleansed’ farmland or soil. This research
also found that some respondents have mentioned that organic food is recognized by the
symbol of the certifying body. In India , the APEAD’s symbol is an assurance that the food
labelled as organic and having the symbol is 100% organic. Also, some respondents have
defined organic food as food produced without the use of chemicals in the soil. This means
that the foods are produced from the lands that do not use chemicals in the soil; foods grown
from ‘cleansed’ farmland.

Respondents have also mentioned organic food as naturally grown, use of natural fertilizers
and environment friendly. They are aware that organic food has a positive impact on the
environment; it does not pollute the environment, as it does not use chemicals and other fossil
fuels. They also believe that organic food is not genetically modified. Few said that organic
food does not use artificial flavours and colours. Some have also pointed out that animals are
not fed with additives, antibiotics, growth enhancement and hormones. Animals are taken
care so as to minimize the usage of chemical treatments. One came out with a good
differentiation that organic foods are misshapen and that is how they should be. Whereas, in
conventional food, because of the use of chemicals and other treatments, it is made sure that
the shape of the produces are similar and in proper shape.

As argued by different researchers, there still exists confusion regarding the word ‘organic’
because of the positively associated terms like cage-free and all natural, is also proved as
right in this research as well. Few people have defined organic as ‘free range’ and ‘all
natural’. As explained by Anstine (2007), “organic food is all natural but not all natural food
is necessarily organic”. This is because organic food requirements are more stringent than the

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requirements for all natural foods. All natural food, for example yogurt only cannot contain
synthesized ingredients. Hence, as reported by Hughner (2007) confusion still exists amongst
consumers regarding the term ‘organic’. When asked about the difference between the
production of organic and conventional food, respondents found major difference to be no
use of chemicals on the food while growing as well in the soil. Natural ingredients are used
while growing organic food. Quality and better taste was also mentioned as difference. They
also believe that quality of the nutrients is more as compared to conventional food. Price as
stated is also a major factor that differentiates organic and conventional. Animals are not fed
with growth hormones and are environment friendly. This is exactly as defined by DEFRA
about organic farming, “as a production system that is designed to produce optimum
quantities of food of high nutritional quality by using management practices which aim to
avoid the use of agro-chemical inputs and which minimise damage to the environment and
wildlife.” Conventional foods, on the contrary, they say uses chemicals, has uniform shape,
produces in massive quantity, quality is ignored so as to produce more and meet demands but
are less costly.

Davies et al. (1995); Harper and Makatouni (2002); Hill and Lynchehaun (2002) as citied in
Hughner (2007) have rightly said that most are unaware of the organic farming practices.
Respondents have mentioned what organic food does not do. However, they have not
mentioned what organic food does. They have not mentioned anything about factors relating
to organic food such as crop rotation, use of animal and plant manures, encouraging
biological cycles etc.

However, as per the definition of the organic food and farming, people are aware and have a
good knowledge on the whole what organic food is.

Regarding the advantages of organic foods, respondents have highly agreed with environment
and animal welfare factor. They strongly believe that organic food enhances environment and
takes care of animals. Respondents do believe that organic food is healthy, safer and tastes
better. However, lack of proper research has led them into uncertainty. In addition to this,
because of the premium price of organic food, people think that eating organic is a lifestyle
matter.

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By looking at the buying frequency of the respondents of organic food, it is clear that
Britain’s consumers are ready to become the highest spenders on organic food as suggested
by a report from the Datamoniotor. This can be said because people frequently buy organic
food. Their prime motive to buy organic food is due to health and food safety reasons. Baker
et al. (2004) and Willamson (2007) also said that UK consumer’s main motive to buy organic
is health and safety, then comes tastes, environment and animal welfare factors. Some
respondents have said that they buy organic food out of curiosity as also mentioned by
Chakrabarti and Baisya (2007). Few buy it because it poses as a status symbol (Hughner,
2007).

In additional findings, the researcher found that high household income leads to frequent
purchasing of organic foods. As the income drops down, the frequency of purchasing organic
foods also reduces. Income and buying behavior of organic foods are positively related. To
the researcher’s surprise, it is also important to note that one respondent whose income is
under Rs. 10,000 always purchases organic food. This informs us that to some extent income
does not matter if you have proper knowledge and information about the advantages of
organic. In such a situation, nothing can restrain you from purchasing organic food.

It was also found that people who have children less than 15 years of age tend to purchase
more and wider rage of organic food than the people who do not have children under the age
of 15 years. These findings relate with the Mintel (2008) and Soil Association (2007) reports.
This explains that parents do not compromise with the health of their children.

5.3 CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY:

The study of this dissertation is on Consumers’ perception towards organic food. It aims at
understanding the knowledge of consumers regarding organic food and what according to
them are its advantages. And also for what reason do they demand organic food. There has
not been much of a research on the consumer’s knowledge towards organic food. This area is
not much explored. Some researchers have presented data that is mentioned in the literature
review regarding consumer’s thinking but a detailed study on this topic has not been
performed as is done in this dissertation. On reasons for increase in demand for organic food,
many studies have been done. However, these studies have been performed in the US,

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Germany and few other countries. Very limited study has been done in India. This research
will contribute in both areas of Indian market.

This research explains what consumers perceive about organic foods. This will help in
understanding the knowledge of Indian consumer regarding organic food and will add to the
literature already written. Work on reasons for demand of organic food is also done. This
helps in comprehending for what reasons the consumer is demanding organic food. What is
leading him to buy organic food? This study can be compared with the previous researches to
understand if the preferences have changed or what is causing the demand for organic foods
during the study period.

This research also notes the role played by income and children under the age of 15 years on
purchasing of organic foods.

5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS:

From the research findings, review of the questionnaire and analysis, the researcher
recommends the following:

- This research can be studied by the Government so as to know consumers’ perception.

As discussed in previous chapter as well as in this chapter, consumers are not fully
aware of the exact meaning of organic. Government can take necessary steps to
educate consumers. Government is promoting, organic farming, organic food and
wants consumers the buy more of organic food. Hence, in reference to this study,
government can study what consumers know and act upon what further information
should be provided to the consumers about organic food so that they are convinced to
switch over from conventional to organic buying.
- People should be made more aware regarding organic food and its farming procedures
and practices. Because having proper information and knowledge about organic food
will change people’s perception and will influence them to purchase organic food.
- Organic food companies should give more information about organic food and its
contents and nutritional value on the packing. This will make people aware about
organic food, which, in turn, will increase the demand.

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 - Managers of the organic food companies should start targeting parents, especially
mothers who have children under the age of 15 years, as they are the major purchasers
of organic food.
- Managers can also target rich income segment, as prices of organic foods are high and
generally the higher income group will opt for organic food with some exceptions.
- Effects of organic food on health, safety factor, effects on environment and animals
should be informed to consumers which will help them to choose organic food.
- While advertising organic foods, parents having children under the age of 15 years
can be targeted. Also the health and safety issues, environmental friendly and animals
taken care of can be showed.

5.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

The study to investigate consumers’ perception towards organic food, in spite of best efforts
put, had its own limitations. The first limitation of this research is that it could cover only
Pune city of the India, which cannot be considered as a representative of the whole of the
India as a country. The survey had taken place in only certain areas of Pune city and
respondents participated were only 200, which again is a small sample size and the area from
where data was collected was also limited. The research aimed to target majority of the
respondents who were easily accessible through convenience sampling, which could have led
to biased results. Instead, a better designed, probability based sampling approach could have
been used to ensure that each person had a chance of being selected.

Time and budget constraints for the present research led to the use of self-administered
questionnaires that could ask only limited questions. This could not enlighten more on the
other reasons for increase in demand for organic food apart from the reasons mentioned in the
questionnaire. Different methods could have given different results.

Again, due to time constraint, only few statistical tools were used for the analysis and
interpretation of the data. If time was not an issue, use of other statistical tools could have
been made, to get more proper results co-relating questions with each other.

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5.6 OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER STUDIES:
This research is limited to the study of knowledge of people who are above 18 years of age.
There can be research undertaken for the study of adolescent’s knowledge and attitude
towards organic food. This will give more contribution to study and help the government and
organic food companies to take necessary actions regarding educating the young generation.

The study is also limited to the reasons for increase in demand for organic foods, which were
pre-designed by the researcher. A detailed study could be conducted by using qualitative
methods for exploring different reasons because of which the consumers demand organic
food.

As stated above, if the researcher had no constraint regarding time and budget, study by
considering different cities of India and increasing the sample size would give a more
realistic picture.

5.7 CONCLUSION:

It can be understood from this research that consumers are well aware about organic foods.
They have a good length of knowledge regarding organic food and have a positive attitude
towards it. Health and food safety are the main reasons that the consumers demand for
organic produces, which are then followed by better taste, environment factor and animal
welfare. Women are the major purchasers of organic foods. It is also seen that household
having children under the age of 15 years are important purchasers of organic food as they
are concerned about their children’s health. People earning a high income opt for organic
food. In contrast, it is also seen that if proper knowledge is conveyed, despite small earnings,
people cannot restrict themselves from buying organic products.

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