Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2018; 7(2): 2152-2155

E-ISSN: 2278-4136
P-ISSN: 2349-8234
JPP 2018; 7(2): 2152-2155
Received: 05-01-2018
Accepted: 06-02-2018
Nayana Sharma
Ph.D Scholar, Department of
Resource Management andConsumer Science, MPUAT,Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Dr. Ritu Singhvi
Professor, Department of
Resource Management andConsumer Science, MPUAT,Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

Consumers perception and Behaviour towards
organic food: A systematic review of literature
Nayana Sharma and Dr. Ritu Singhvi
Abstract
Food consumption practice is changing worldwide among the consumers and now they want to opt food
which is free from synthetic chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides, i.e., they want to consume for organic
food which is not only sustainable for health but also environment- friendly. Organic products are not somuch popular among consumers because of lower productivity of organic produce by farmers, which inresult lead to the high market price of organic food. There is a need to create awareness about theadvantages of organic food products among people and promote its use whereas on the other hand thereis the foremost need to motivate the farmers to opt for organic farming. A study on consumer perception
regarding organic food may add insight to emerging organic food industry in India and worldwide. The
review of related literature in the area of the organic food market and consumer perception studied hasprovided many insights for the study. It has also provided direction in designing the present study. A
number of researchers have identified the demand of organic food products worldwide and in India.
Further the various factors that influence consumer perception of organic food products have also beenidentified. Some studies have also been undertaken preference, knowledge, and satisfaction regardingorganic food products. Having reviewed several studies and having identified the gap, the investigator
felt a foremost need to undertake the present investigation.
Keywords: organic food market, organic food products, consumer perception, India

Correspondence
Nayana Sharma
Ph.D Scholar, Department ofResource Management andConsumer Science, MPUAT,
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

Introduction
Organic agriculture is a farming system which had been followed by farmers from ancienttimes, is free from the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock
feed additives. As per the definition of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission(2007) [3], Organic agriculture is an integrated production management system which promotes
and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles and soil
biological activity It emphasizes the use of natural inputs (i.e. mineral and products derived
from plants) and the renunciation of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic agriculture isdifferent from conventional type of farming system as it follows the rule of sustainability byusing natural inputs, environmentally techniques e.g. intercropping, crop rotation, mulchingetc., the improvement in soil structure and fertility represent the basic rules that make organic
agriculture a unique system. The recognition of organic farming is progressively increasing
and is now practiced in almost all countries of the world. United States Department ofAgriculture (USDA) mentioned that the fast changing trend from chemical based agriculture toorganic and eco friendly system of farming is being a major concern at the national and globallevels. According to the latest survey, India accounts 5.2 million hectares of organic land and6,50,000 organic producers. India has the largest number of organic producers in the world.
Organic food is defined as a product obtained from an organic farming system which avoids
the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. This change in the direction of organic
production is getting support from the consumers that are now aware of health hazards;
therefore, the demand for the organic food is increasing. Organic food product consumption is
also on the rise among consumers all over the world. This pattern is due to the consumerawareness regarding health and environment concerns. Health, availability and education fromdemographic factors positively influence the consumer's attitude towards buying organic food.
Overall satisfaction from consumers of organic food is more than inorganic food (Paul andRana 2012) [13]. But still by seeing the present condition the market of organic products in
India is at nascent stage, and many consumers are unaware about the benefits associated withthe products and the environment we inhabit. The price and availability of the organic products
is the prime barriers towards its purchase, so the marketers need to focus on such barriers forpenetrating the market of organic products in India (Laheri and Arya, 2015) [5].

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Data source and methodology
In order to review the extensive literature, information weregathered from various research articles published in referredjournals and also in electronic databases related to organic
market at the world and Indian scenario. Later, an extensive
review of the literature was conducted in order to investigate
the perceptions of consumers towards organic food products.
The journals provide the commendable work of various
scholars worldwide which ultimately help to conduct theirwork in desirable manner. In addition to this, an attempt wasmade to trace references cited in various published articles
and reports related to organic food products. Most of the data
have been collected from both primary and secondary sources(Balaji and Injodey, 2017) [1].
The demand and consumption of organic food has grown
remarkably, both in developed and developing countries. Thisis so because; consumer is becoming more and more
conscious about their health. Although organic foodcomprises only a small fraction of the food market, its rapid
growth has generated much interest among consumers andbusinesses, as well as researchers. In Malaysia, the perception
and understanding of organic food production is based mainly
on not using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The organic
food industry is facing several challenges in Malaysia.
Although the demand for organic food in Malaysia isgrowing, the supply of local organic products is not able tokeep up with the increased demand (Somasundram et al.,2014).
The organic food industry in India is also in the early stagesof growth. Higher disposable income and greater healthawareness have resulted in an increased domestic demand fororganic food. There is huge premium in selling organic
products, not only to export markets but also to affluent,
health conscious domestic consumers (Manaloor et al., 2016)[8]. The organic food industry has experienced surprising
growth in the past few years. Still, the total percentage ofagricultural land in the world that is certified organic stillremains around 1% at 43.16 million hectares. This is almost
four times the area covered under organic agriculture in 1999
recorded at 11 million hectares (Lernoud and Willer 2016) [6].
Despite the fact that the growth of consumption in developed
countries is expanding the domestic demand in developing
countries has been still a challenge for the organic food sector.
Many factors are proposed which prevented the domestic
growth of organic foods in developing countries. Some ofthem were premium price, availability, trust in brand,
awareness about organic foods, etc. (Sangkumchaliang andHuang 2012) [15].

Findings from the literature
Overview of Organic Market and Organic Food (Worldand Indian Scenario)
Globally, organic food annual market growth has been
expanded day by day and in 2010 the annual growth was
23%. Total market of organic food observed up to 59.1 billion
US dollar. Highest land acquired by organic apples is in theUnited States (17272 acres) in 2001. Among all European
countries, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria
are the leading countries in the sector of organic fruits
production (Yadav et al, 2010) [21].
According to the report on National Program on Organic
production 2012, the market size of organic products isincreasing rapidly to 47% in EU, 28% in USA, 28% in
Canada remarkably. The market is also growing at a healthyrate for Italy and Singapore. Though a large percentage of thisdemand is fulfilled by the domestic producers of thesecountries, but there is a huge demand of many othercommodities and quantities of the existing commodities too.
This gap in demand and supply will give rise to opportunities
for developing countries like India to explore.
Organic food products are popular across Europe and UnitedStates of America. Asia is not far behind with India being aprominent player. The concept of organic food products is not
new to Indian farmers. However, there is not much of aconsumption taking place domestically despite the fact thatIndia is one of the top 10 players in the world when it comesto the number of farmers engaged in organic cultivation

Consumer Attitude and Perceptions towards Organic
Food Products
In today’s world consumer’s food pattern is rapidly changing.
The niche market of organic is at the verge of boom. It has
been that from last few years the organic products production
and availability in the market has been increased and made asignificant development in the economy. Several people havestarted to consider organic food instead of conventional foodbecause it is healthier and less prone to chemicals. This kindof purchasing behaviour plays an important role among
consumer attitude and perception aspect towards buying oforganic food products. Further this, the issues, concern andmajor reasons have been identified through a broad review ofearlier studies.
Approach for buying organic food are mainly influenced bygender, age, income, level of education and the presence ofchildren in the household ( Magnusson et al., 2001; Wier etal., 2003) [7, 20]. Hughner et al. (2007) [4] identified the main
reasons for organic food consumption among consumers. The
main reasons are: concerns about health and nutrition,superior taste, care for the environment, food safety, lack oftrust in conventional food, care for animal welfare, support
the local economy, freshness, curiosity or because they areconsidered trendy.
According to Chiciudean et al, 2012, people consume thistype of food from different reasons but most of them are
related to animal welfare and environmental friendly. Results
indicate that the factors of influence over the consumers

Research Design
The demand for organic food products is increasing rapidly
but the perception of purchasing and consuming of organic
product has always been the concern around the globe. An
understanding of perception and attitudinal behaviour towards
purchasing of organic food products will be of great
importance to producers (farmers) and retailer (businessowner) to understand and fulfill the demand for the organic
food products. From last many years several studies havebeen conducted on organic products, the major concern andneed of the present study is to provide complete overview ofconsumer perceptions regarding organic food products.
Objectives of the study
Based on the literature review, the specific objectives of thepresent study are as follows:
1. To provide updated and efficient review of organic
market and organic food (World and Indian scenario)
2. To study various research aspect widespread in theground of consumer perceptions of organic food products
through academic research papers.

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depend on gender and age. The organic food is mostly
appreciated for its taste and quality. Women are also
influenced by price and by the trendy fact of being „organic”.
Major differences have been noticed between people withdifferent age regarding promotions, recommendations fromacquaintances and advertising. Youngsters are more
influenced by advertising than any other group of age while
adult people are influenced by promotions.
Shafie and Rennie (2012) [16] assessed consumer perceptions
towards organic food and found that food safety, humanhealth and environmental concern along with sensory
attributes such as nutritive value, taste, freshness andappearance influence organic food consumer preferences.
Premium price continues to suppress organic foodconsumption. Understanding the grounds of increasing levelof organic food consumption such as motivation are mostcritical in understanding the potential of the organic food to
become a genuinely mainstream market.
Consumers’ perceptions regarding organic food consumption
are influenced by five factors, namely food safety, price,environmental friendly, nutrition and sensory attributes. Foodconsumption patterns are ever-changing as a result of healthand environmental issues. Interest in organically produced foodis changing end-to-end the world by Mukul et al. in 2013 [10].
Mehra and Ratna (2014) [9] found that six significant factors
were found to influence the attitude towards organic food.
They were perception towards organic food, healthconsciousness, product information, value for money,accessibility and trust. Results of the study showed thatwomen and younger consumers showed a positive attitudetowards organic food and perceived consumption of organic
food to be a healthier food option. They were keen on getting
product information and compared labels while selecting
nutritious food. Women perceived consumption of organic
food to be a healthier option.
Sharma and Bali in 2014 [17] concluded that consumers arevery much aware that organic food are good for health, theseproducts are free from chemical which resulting in no side
effects and do not cause harm to the consumers. The
consumers living in urban areas are more aware about organic
food products. Consumer believes that consuming of organic
food helps to reduce stress level and maintain an energetic
lifestyle. Another factor this study found that respondents arewilling to pay even higher prices because of it is beneficial forhealth. Other researcher, Sivathanu in 2015 [18] also add andrevealed that consumers prefer to buy organic food products
because of their perception that the organic food products arehealthy and safe, nutritious and environment friendly.
Pandurangarao et al. (2017) concluded ten factors such aslabels, health, concern, environment concern, brandadvertising, safety, accessibility, affordability, freshness andstore location as influencing factors to buy organic food. Outof this health, environment and safety are key factors that arefound primary influencers.
Conclusion and recommendations
The purpose of this paper was to determine the consumers’
perception regarding organic food in India. Understanding
consumer’s behaviour and decision making towards
organically grown products it has been found out that health,safe, taste and environmental concerns were the mostimportant factors deciding consumer’s attitude and preference
towards purchasing organic products. Reviewing of study also
revealed the availability of the market can influence

consumer’s preferences and choices for purchasing organic
food products. This paper thus provides vital information that
there will be more demand of the organically grown foodproducts in coming future, so it’s high time for producer,
traders, consumer and government itself to focus over theniche market of organic.
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