Perception of consumers towards locally produced convenience food products in Asikuma Odoben Brakwa

Abstract

Convenience foods have become widely popular, especially among the working class, teenagers, students, bachelors and families in Ghana. Ghanaian consumers exhibit varied behavior toward locally produced convenience foods. While certain products in this category enjoy widespread acceptance and steady patronage, others fail to attract similar interest. In this context, the study aimed at assessing consumer behaviour towards locally produced convenience food products. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The consumers were sampled from the major markets in Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District in the Central Region. Based on the table developed by Krejcie and Morgan (1970), the sample size determined was 360. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The study found that consumers' perception towards locally produced convenience food products is positive. The finding showed that price of convenience food, time saving in cooking process, and availability of convenience foods influenced consumers purchase of locally produced convenience food products. It was evident that the age group (F(df)=52.501, P=0.000<0.01), marital status (F(df) 77.839, P=0.000<0.01), and income (F(df)=23.746, P=0.000<0.01) were significantly related to consumers buying behaviour towards locally produced convenience food products. It was concluded that consumer perception has a direct impact on the buying behaviour of consumers towards locally produced convenience food product. It was recommended that Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) must ensure manufacturers to improve upon the quality of local convenience food products so as to raise the confidence level of local consumers and to also enable the industries fully compete with the international firms. Also, the government of Ghana should revamp its campaign on “buy made in Ghana goods” and local food industries must join hands with the government in this direction.