Consumers’ Perception on Safety of Vegetables in the Urban Markets of Mymensingh City in Bangladesh

Abstract

The major focus of the study was to explore the safety perception of consumers towards vegetables in the urban markets of Mymensingh city in Bangladesh. The study was carried out through survey of randomly selected sixty vegetable consumers. Data were collected through face-to-face interview method using pre-tested interview schedule. Chi-square (χ√) test was employed to assess the association between socio-economic characteristics and perception towards safety of vegetables. Respondents of the study area showed remarkable individual differences in their selected socio-economic characteristics. Majority of the respondents were middle aged, having higher secondary level of education, small family size, self-employed and earns medium level annual income. Findings revealed that potato, cauliflower, ash gourd, tomato and okra were the most preferred vegetables in the study area. Majority of the respondents perceived those vegetables sold in the retail market is produced with excessive chemicals, mishandling and possess health risk. Irrespective of demographic differences, majority of the respondents agreed that vegetables in the market are not so safe for consumption. Having perceived the unsafe vegetables, majority of the respondents (78.0%) still wish to purchase vegetables from the market. Of course, safety perception of respondents influenced their decision as 22.0 percent of them denied to purchase from market in future. Hence, application of organic fertilizer with limited or no use of pesticides can be a solution to ensure safe vegetables in the market as suggested by the respondents.