Assessing Consumer Interest in Sustainable and Ethically Certified Tropical Fruits in the Central and Eastern European Region

Jiri Hejkrlik, Johana Rondevaldova and Petra Chaloupkova ()
Additional contact information
Jiri Hejkrlik: Department of Economics and Development, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
Johana Rondevaldova: Department of Crop Sciences and Agroforestry, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
Petra Chaloupkova: Department of Economics and Development, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-28

Abstract: Tropical fruit consumption has increased globally, with 95% of production in low- and middle-income countries, often with a questionable social and environmental impact. This study explores the potential of sustainable tropical fruit consumption in Central and Eastern Europe. The researchers surveyed 2266 Czech respondents on their attitudes toward tropical fruits and the role of ethical certification in their purchasing decisions. Using a structural equation model (SEM), the study identified the factors influencing consumers’ decisions to buy Fairtrade fruit, focusing on awareness of related global issues, including their environmental and economic impacts. The findings indicate that despite the increasing supply and consumer awareness of tropical fruits in the Czech market, most respondents preferred traditional tropical fruits like bananas (99%), pineapples (94%), mangoes (78%), and avocados (65%). The study found that 42% of respondents were familiar with Fairtrade and that 55% intended to buy it, but that consumers often purchased it unintentionally due to retailers’ marketing strategies. The results of the SEM showed that consumers’ ethical shopping preferences and environmental awareness significantly contributed to Fairtrade purchasing behaviour, whereas economic and global challenges did not have a substantial impact. Therefore, for the long-term sustainability of the ethical tropical fruit sector, greater consumer education on the social and economic aspects of ethical products is needed.

Keywords: consumer behaviour; Fairtrade engagement; labelling; social responsibility; tropical fruit consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1962/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1962/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:11:p:1962-:d:1512278

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().