Assessing consumer preferences and purchase behaviours’ for fresh maize in Uganda

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays) is most commonly grown and consumed in Uganda, both by humans and animals. Despite the abundance of maize production in Uganda, there is limited understanding for the market potential of fresh maize. In this study, with the objectives; to examine the characteristics of consumers of fresh maize, to analyse consumer purchase behaviour for roasted and steamed maize, and to examine the attributes that consumers prefer for consumption of fresh maize,51 districts across the country, including Kampala, Wakiso, Hoima, and Buliisa were covered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the characteristics of maize consumers and consumer purchase behavior while weighted average mean was used to analyze the consumer rankings on different maize attributes.65.9% off the respondents were male, forming the majority of fresh maize consumers, majority (89.4%) had acquired tertiary education and the biggest percentage of the respondents (57.6%) were in the age bracket of 20-24 years. 47% (majority) of the respondents preferred steamed maize over other forms of fresh maize, 57.6% bought the maize they consumed from road side maize vendors and 57.6% of the respondents bought fresh maize at least once every week. Cleanliness and taste were ranked first and second preferred attributes by consumers across the country with weighted mean of 35.9 and 35.2. The freshness attribute was ranked third with weighted mean of 34.8. 52.33%of fresh maize consumers preferred hygiene of vender with clean and presentable attires. 53% of respondents preferred cream colour for the roasted maize. Different respondents suggested the best ways of improving and widening the marketability of fresh maize of which 15% suggested considering foreign maketing,12.3%proposed proper post-harvest handling aimed at reducing post-harvest losses.