Factors Affecting the Waste of Selected Agricultural Products with an Emphasis on the Marketing Mix

Mehdi Mahmoudi, Hosein Mohammadi (), Sayed Saghaian () and Alireza Karbasi
Additional contact information
Mehdi Mahmoudi: Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Iran
Hosein Mohammadi: Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Iran
Sayed Saghaian: Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA
Alireza Karbasi: Department of Agricultural Economics, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Iran

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Unusual levels of agricultural product waste are becoming one of the issues and dangers that human societies face in their efforts to achieve food security. Therefore, reducing agricultural product waste is one of the main strategies for the optimal use of production resources and support food security. In this study, a multilevel Bayesian technique was used to examine the characteristics of customers and the effects of marketing mix on the waste of selected agricultural products—a subgroup of fruits and vegetables in Mashhad, Iran. Based on this, 368 consumers (at the first level), 53 fruit and vegetable markets (at the second level), and 3 main supply centers of fruit and vegetables in the city (at the third level) were evaluated using the Bayesian multilevel model. The results showed that approximately 56% of food waste variance was caused by differences between consumers, 29% is due to the differences between fruit and vegetable markets, and almost 14% is due to the differences between the main supply centers of Mashhad. Also, the effects of the marketing mix showed that the place of distribution of agricultural products always has an increasing effect on the waste of agricultural products. Moreover, increasing the price of agricultural products reduces waste by consumers and keeps the consumer away from unnecessary purchases. The product factor also has an increasing effect on the waste of agricultural products, and consumers are encouraged to consume more and create more waste. A good way to reduce agricultural product waste is to use solutions that slow down the spoilage process and extend the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. Using an appropriate marketing mix and considering the characteristics of consumers can also control the waste of agricultural products.

Keywords: agricultural products waste; marketing mix; consumer; retailers; multilevel Bayesian (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/2077-0472/14/6/857/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/6/857/ (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:6:p:857-:d:1404970

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 ().