Volume 1 (Issue 1) 2021 Article 13

ABSTRACT:

The study was carried out to evaluate the determinants of household preference for homegrown rice consumption in North Central, Nigeria. The study had three specific objectives. Multi stage sampling technique was used to sample respondents, while a well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection from the 360 respondents used for the study. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressionwere used to actualize the objectives of the study. Result of the regression analysis on the influence of socio economic characteristics on households’ preference for home grown rice revealed that educational qualification (p=0.00), membership of association (p=0.00), and income (p=0.00) were all significantly at 1% probability level while occupation (p=0.089) was significant at 10% probability level. Cooking quality, swelling capacity, income level, taste, absence of foreign particles among others, were identified by respondents as the determinants of consumers’ preference for home grown rice. It was recommended that awareness on home grown rice should be raised through different forms of adverts The more aware the public is of the superior nutritional value of the home grown rice, the more interested they will be at buying them.Rice marketers should ensure that they package and brand their rice products in a way that it will stir up interests in buyers from mere looking at the packaging. Eye catching names and logos should be branded on the sack or container to attract consumers. This is because with good packaging, it is possible to sell almost anything.