Abstract
Consumer demands become increasingly strong in Western countries. Product quality has proven to be an important marketing tool to compete effectively on these saturated markets. Markets in developing countries are mostly producer dominated. Not much attention is paid to product quality. Agricultural researchers traditionally are producer-oriented, rather than consumer-oriented. Research on tomatoes in Indonesia has shown, that even in producer dominated markets, consumers have specific wishes regarding quality, which should be taken into consideration in order to develop demand and to enhance farmers' profitability. This paper sheds light on a research methodology to translate consumer preferences into an ideotype, a practical product profile consisting of optimal levels of relevant physical and chemical properties. This ideotype should be used to objectively evaluate agricultural research, aimed at improving product quality. In addition, a list of quality problems of current supply is presented. This priority list serves as a guideline for research planning. Finally, a method is presented to find out to what extend consumers are willing to pay a higher price for improved quality.
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This paper is a summarized version of a research report with the same title. The interested reader can obtain a copy from Dr. G. Grubben, CPRO, P.O. Box 16,6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands, referring to LEHRI/ATA-365 Internal Communication No. 46.
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van Lieshout, O. Consumer-oriented quality improvement of tomatoes in Indonesia. Euphytica 71, 161–180 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00040406
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00040406