Determinants of consumer preference for tomato varieties in Wakiso District

Abstract

The cross-sectional household survey was carried out in Wakiso district to determine the tomato varieties and attributes preferred by household consumers, the study covered two Counties such as Kyadondo and Busiro as well as Kira municipality. The article presents the tomato varieties and attributes preferred by household consumers, the relationship between food type/preparation and tomato consumption, factors hindering consumption of different forms of tomatoes. It also presents discussion, recommendations and conclusions from the findings that could help to avert the foregoing. Descriptive statistics (frequency tables, percentages and graphs) were generated from data entry and used to analyze characteristics of household consumers and there preferred tomato varieties. A sample of 81 convenient household consumer respondents both female and male residing in Kyadondo, Busiro counties and Kira municipality were interviewed on the most preferred varieties and this was computed in percentages where 65.43% preferred money maker , 33.3% preferred Cal / Kamongo, 27.16 % preferred East Africa seed tomatoes ,78% of household tomato consumers preferred elongated tomatoes, 70% of the consumer respondents preferred round tomatoes, 1% preferred extra large tomatoes. On the quality of tomato attributes 75.31% preferred all the quality attributes like (appearance, texture, and flavor). 24.69% preferred appearance, 22.22% preferred tomatoes based on texture, 2.47% based on flavor. Basing on food preparation technique in relation to tomato consumption, 74% preferred fried food compared to boiled food at a level of 8 %. Chi-square test was used to analyze the two categorical variables with p-value < 0.05 level of significance at 95% confidence interval. 81% of respondents agreed that pesticide application on tomatoes hinder household consumption than 19 % who disagreed, 71% agreed that economic accessibility is a hindrance factor on fruit and vegetable consumption and 10 % disagreed. Protective Policies to favor household tomato consumers against miss-use of pesticides, improving on households‘ economic sustainability to enhance their level of income, meal frequency and this could help Uganda reach the world recommended level of tomato consumption.