Date of Graduation

5-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology

Advisor/Mentor

Nalley, L. Lanier

Committee Member/Reader

Miller, Jefferson

Committee Member/Second Reader

Farmer, Amy L.

Abstract

While price typically drives consumers’ food purchasing decisions in low-income countries, religious attributes associated with food production and corporate branding could influence buying patterns. In Mozambique more than 46% of people were living below the poverty line of ($0.31 USD) per day in 2018. That being said, in the Nampula Province (the location of this study), which is the second poorest province in the country, over 25% of the population is Muslim and may be willing-to-pay (WTP) a premium for Halal meat products to uphold Islamic beliefs. Like many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, poultry is the fastest growing source of protein. Since large-scale domestic poultry industries are relatively new in Mozambique, brand loyalty is a new concept that has not empirically analyzed before in the literature. In this study we survey 312 consumers in Nampula, Mozambique using a Choice Based Modeling approach to estimate if consumers are WTP for chicken which was slaughtered according to Halal laws and chicken which branded by New Horizons (the largest chicken producer in Nampula). The results of this study are important as they show if consumers in low-income countries are WTP a premium for branded commodities and if consumers are WTP for religious production attributes.

Following data collection using a researcher-developed survey instrument, logistic regression models were estimated using maximum-likelihood techniques to evaluate poultry-attribute preferences (independence was rejected). A random parameters logit (RPL) model estimated the mean and standard deviation associated with each attribute’s effect on the probability of purchasing poultry. Marginal WTP values were computed with respect to the price coefficient.

Results of our sample could indicate that even in low-income countries like Mozambique, consumers are WTP a premium for branding. This would signal a need for further research in the future to determine if these results are generalizable to countries with similar economic structure. In communities like Nampula, this branding could be a proxy for food safety concerns, and these results are important as in many low-income countries commodities (such as live/processed chickens) have no branding associated with them. Even in the poorest part of Mozambique, Muslims are WTP a premium for Halal produced meat. This should signal to meat producers to market appropriately (via the Halal logo) in order to increase market share and overall sales without the exploitation (via price increases) of consumers. Interestingly, across the sample Halal was not a signal for food safety or quality, it was viewed simply as a religious attribute. These data are applicable to a real-world problem; the study was built around a real company in Mozambique, and the data will be shared with New Horizons to improve marketing efforts and hopefully increase accessibility and education about commodity products in third-world countries.

Keywords

Mozambique; Halal; Branding; Poultry

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