Consumer attitude and behaviour towards IPM food products: policy implications from a survey

Abstract

To ensure minimum available quantity of food to satisfy the needs of growing population, there is a necessity to apply different measures so the harvest-related hazards can be avoided. At this point, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) comes as a solution because its goal is to ensure food security without neglecting food safety. IPM technique is promoted by European Commission, together with organic agriculture. The perception of the public towards the latter along with their behavior has been studied intensively in the recent years whilst the lack of studies considering IPM technique remains. The aim of this analysis is to compare how well Integrated Pest Management is known by consumers and to assess their habits as well as procure comparisons between IPM consumers and those of organic agriculture. The data has been analyzed using statistical tools of R and mathematical tools of jMAF for multi-criteria decision making. The analysis could help us to better identify the typical consumer of IPM food products, to see to what extent social, cultural and economic differences influence attitudes and consumption and whether the attitude-behavior gap of consumers persists considering both IPM food products and those coming from organic agriculture.