TY - JOUR
T1 - Market acceptability of dried dates at the unripe "Bisr" stage in United Arab Emirates
AU - Degefa, Berhanu
AU - Muhammad, Safdar
AU - Fathelrahman, Eihab
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to extend our gratitude to Prof. Afaf Kamal for initiating and undertaking a research project entitled 'Broadning Innovative Solution Rooms for DATES (BISR.DATES). The project was funded under the UAEU 3rd Research Grant Competition. This manuscript is developed as part of the project with the aim of addressing the knowledge needed in product development strategy from the demand side as related to the key factors that affect the consumers' decision and marketability of the product.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The dates produce form of dates fruit considered in this study is called "Bisr", which is unripe fruit that can be harvested and dried to capture several sensory and economic value-added advantages compared to the ripe date. In this study, the product's sensory characteristics are added to the socio-economic characteristics of consumers to understand the factors or independent variables that affect the changes in the dependent variable, willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers. The objective of the analysis is to explore the consumers' perception, acceptance and their attitude towards the "Bisr" and to identify the characteristics of the final product that are important to the overall marketability of the product. The survey data shows that over two-third or 70% of the 276 respondents have reported that they would buy "Bisr" if the commodity becomes commercially available. Overall marketability is affected by both respondents' socio-economic characteristics and their responses to the sensory questionnaire. The result showed the presence of an opportunity to develop a "Bisr" by adding economic value to date and diversify the sources of benefits for both producers and consumers from date production in the UAE.
AB - The dates produce form of dates fruit considered in this study is called "Bisr", which is unripe fruit that can be harvested and dried to capture several sensory and economic value-added advantages compared to the ripe date. In this study, the product's sensory characteristics are added to the socio-economic characteristics of consumers to understand the factors or independent variables that affect the changes in the dependent variable, willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers. The objective of the analysis is to explore the consumers' perception, acceptance and their attitude towards the "Bisr" and to identify the characteristics of the final product that are important to the overall marketability of the product. The survey data shows that over two-third or 70% of the 276 respondents have reported that they would buy "Bisr" if the commodity becomes commercially available. Overall marketability is affected by both respondents' socio-economic characteristics and their responses to the sensory questionnaire. The result showed the presence of an opportunity to develop a "Bisr" by adding economic value to date and diversify the sources of benefits for both producers and consumers from date production in the UAE.
KW - Dates fruit
KW - Drying
KW - Market acceptability
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U2 - 10.9755/ejfa.2017.v29.i9.80
DO - 10.9755/ejfa.2017.v29.i9.80
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032273562
SN - 2079-052X
VL - 29
SP - 674
EP - 684
JO - Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture
JF - Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture
IS - 9
ER -