Frequent Purchases of Organic Products:
In the present study, respondents were asked to rank organic products that were frequently purchased on a regular basis and rank was converted into percent position by using the formula:
Percent position = 100 (Rj-0.5)
Where Rj is the rank of the ith item and N refers to the number of items ranked. The percent position were converted into score by using Garrets’ Rating scale and average score obtained for differential reasons are tabulated and presented in table 1.5.
Male respondents have mentioned ‘Vegetables’ (1st rank), ‘Fruit Jam’ (2nd rank) and ‘Milk’ (3rd rank) whereas female respondents have marked ‘Organic Millet’ (1st rank), ‘Eggs’ (2nd rank) and ‘Fabric/ clothing’ (3rd rank) as prime organic products that they were purchasing frequently on a regular basis.
Major Findings of The Study:
Out of 60 organic consumers, only 20 percent of respondents have stated they buy organic products due to environmental concern.
Nearly 32 percent of respondents have stated thatthe major sources of awareness which influenced them to buy organic products were radio, newspapers, magazines and books.
Only 33 percent of organic consumers have mentioned that they always look at the source of organic products i.e. they are aware of organic production method.
Only 25 percent of respondents had high and very high knowledge about organic products.
Majority of the respondents i.e. nearly 42 percent of respondents stated that organic products are environment friendly in nature.
Suggestions:
More awareness regarding organic products has to be generated among the public through media.
All organic outlets should showcase a display about the benefits of organic products on environment, so that they can gain more knowledge about organic production method.
It was found that consumers with higher education level has more environmental awareness, so school curriculum should also inculcate the benefits of organic farming on environment, this will enable children to gain knowledge about organic produce.
Packaging the products in an environmental friendly way like usage of biodegradable plastics should also be promoted among the organic marketers.
Conclusion:
Environmental awareness regarding organic products is showing an increasing trend and this is a good start-up for Indian organic market. More promotional campaigns regarding organic farming and its positive impact on environment should be conducted on a mass scale to create more wakefulness among the general public. The role of government as well as people is pivotal here, where we have to work together to protect environmental quality.
References
- https://www.organic-systems.org/journal/82/8206.pdf
- http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305332975_Environmental_Impacts_of_Organic_Farming
- https://senr.osu.edu/sites/senr/files/publication_files/Lorenz%20and%20Lal%20Adv%20in%20Agron.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479714004964
