A survey of consumer perceptions and preferences for geographical indication and quality attributes of honey in Kenya

Geographical indication (GI) is an important measure for revealing the origin of a product and communicating the salient site-specific practices embedded in the value chain. For most products and services, recent literature has extensively documented consumer concerns for GI and other quality attributes especially in the developed nations. However, in the developing countries there is very limited empirical analysis of these aspects; in fact there is a complete lack of research insight on GI for honey in Kenya. The present study contributes to fill this knowledge gap through a choice experiment survey of consumer perceptions and preferences for GI and other important quality attributes in honey. The study applied the random parameter logit (RPL) model to analyze data from a random sample of 478 honey consumers drawn from three distinct areas in Kenya: a rural semi-arid honey producing area, Kitui; a humid production-consumption area, Nakuru and; a cosmopolitan net consuming area, the city of Nairobi. Results show that consumers have significant positive preferences for GI labelling, floral source disclosure, organic production methods and joint public-private certification of honey quality. The middle income category of consumers and the relatively aged ones have a specifically strong preference for organic honey. These insights should be integrated in the improvement of honey value chains.