Awareness, Attitude, and Purchase Intention Towards Genetically Modified (BT) Eggplant Among Consumers in Selected Municipalities of Laguna

Date

5-2024

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Renen Szilardo V. De Guzman

Committee Member

Dia Noelle F. Velasco, Jose Maria B. Bombales, Melodee Marciana E. De Castro

Abstract

Eggplant is one of the most important vegetable crops in the country. In fact, the Philippines is one of the top producers of eggplant in Asia in terms of land area and production volume (Statista, 2023). However, eggplant crops are commonly at high risk of pest infestation which result to yield and income losses among farmers. As an intervention, the University of the Philippines Los Baños developed the Bt eggplant to combat the damaging effects of eggplant fruit and shoot borers. (FSB)

However, the recent commercialization of BT eggplant encountered various protests and petitions from some organizations causing the Court of Appeals to cease and desist all the activities related to its commercialization. In response to the present legal dilemma being faced by Bt eggplant, this study was conducted to analyze the current state of awareness, attitude, and purchase intention towards Bt eggplant of consumers in selected barangays of Los Baños and Calamba.

The study was conducted among 97 consumer respondents from the selected barangays. These samples were chosen through systematic sampling and their responses were analyzed with the use of various statistical tools such as Chi-Squared Test of Independence, Cramer's V Test and Spearman Rank Correlation Test.

Based on the result of the study, only 9.28% of the respondents were aware of Bt eggplant. This implies that almost all of the eggplant consumers in the selected barangays were unaware of this eggplant variety. Aware consumers commonly learn about Bt eggplant form online platforms. However, the study found that online platforms tend to impart negative information in consumers mind which explains why majority of the respondents had a neutral first impression of Bt eggplant.

The attitude of consumer respondents were evaluated based on various metrics which include perceived believability of the provided text, level of affinity, level of interest and extent of familial consent. Based on the results, the attitude and purchase intention of consumers in the selected barangays were found to lean towards reserved positivity. Drivers of positive attitude and high purchase among consumers include its superior market qualities, its advantages over the ordinary varieties and consumer curiosity about it's attributes. On the other hand, negative attitude and low purchase intention from consumers were often driven by safety and health-related reservation, unfamiliarity of the product and GMO nature of Bt eggplant.

Among the various socio-demographic variables, gender was found to be significantly correlated with extent of familial consent and purchase intention, age with level of affinity and interest, and martial status with extent of familial consent.

Considering the result of the study, several courses of action were recommended to the developers of Bt eggplant. These include strengthening educational campaigns, encouraging endorsements from regulatory agencies, encouraging independent reviews and studies, social media campaigns, interactive exhibitions and fairs, cooking demonstrations and reversing the CA decision on GMO ban by encouraging various organizations to release a statement and building coalitions.

Language

English

LC Subject

Eggplant industry, Purchasing

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2024 M17 G38

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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