The Influence of Agricultural Certification Perception and Knowledge on Purchasing Behavior of Organic Agricultural Product in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand

Abstract

The organic market has been growing rapidly in the recent year. However, it is still small. According to the varieties of agricultural products in Thailand, the agricultural certification has been established to distinguish the organic agricultural product from others. This study aims to investigate the influence of agricultural certification perception and knowledge on purchasing behavior. The questionnaire was the use of collected data from supermarket and fresh market shoppers in Khon Kaen province (n=400). Descriptive and Chi-Square test were used to examine the influence of agricultural certification knowledge. Results indicated that the organic consumer group seems likely to have a good knowledge on organic agricultural when compare with non-organic consumer group. However, the most of consumers still have confused between organic label and safety food label. More than 55% of consumers could not distinguish between them. Moreover, the organic certification knowledge also has the influence on consumers’ trust in the label. Results from this study are of great importance. It would like to suggest policy makers in organic farming and market at a national and regional level to provide the information about organic production and the certification, which increase the consumer knowledge of the organic label.