Market potential of organically grown vegetables in selected towns of Camarines Sur, 2012.

Date

4-2013

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Vista, Arvin B.

Abstract

Camarines Sur has increasing awareness about organic farming. This study assessed the market potential of organically grown vegetables in selected towns of Camarines Sur. The study covered 20 producers in four municipalities, Nabua, Goa, Pasacao, and Ocampo, and one city - Iriga. It also covered 60 actual consumers and 60 potential consumers of organically grown vegetables. The study focused on determining essential information so as to address the research gap that the researcher sees in the organic vegetable industry in the province. The general objective of the study is to evaluate the market potential of organically grown vegetables in selected towns of Camarines Sur. The specific objectives are: (1) to describe the practices and strategies involved in producing organically grown vegetables; (2) to estimate the existing supply of and demand for organically grown vegetables in Camarines Sur; (3) to determine the profitability of producing organically grown vegetables; and (4) to identify the problems and constraints encountered by selected organically grown vegetable producers and intermediaries, and suggest possible solutions to these identified problems. Primary as well as secondary data were utilized in this study. The analytical procedures are descriptive analysis, chi-square analysis, effect size estimation, and cost and returns analysis. The results show that organically grown vegetables have both supply and demand potential in Camarines Sur. The production practices of producers have a very substantial relationship with the quality attributes of produce. It was also shown that organic vegetables can compete price-wise and quality-wise. The current demand of organic vegetables is much higher than the current supply. In fact, the current supply is just almost half of the current demand. With this, the demand-supply gap was obtained and it amounted to 2,167,079 kilograms per year. There are 21 vegetables included in this study and there are demand-supply gaps for some vegetables. These vegetables are bottle gourd, tomato, string beans, winged beans, gabi, eggplant, luffa, carrots, malunggay, cabbage, bitter gourd, cauliflower, broccoli, hot pepper, and sweet potato. Among those, bottle gourd has the highest gap. The cost and returns analysis showed that there is profit in organic vegetable production and the average profit per hectare is PHP 11,990.49. The major problems encountered by the producers include insufficient output, lack of input, and lack of equipments and machineries. For the consumers, problems include unavailability of organic vegetables, discolorations and/or unsightly marks, presence of insects/worms/unwanted particles and lack of proper packaging. The results of the study show that there is a market potential for organically grown vegetables in Camarines Sur since it is profitable, quality competitive, price competitive, and there is a high demand from consumers. The problems encountered by both producers and consumers of organically grown vegetables can be addressed through appropriate actions from government as well as non-government organizations (NGOs) by having more Bagsakan Centers, farm-to-market roads, intensive promotion of org vegetable farming, and organic sections with updated price monitoring boards in public markets.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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