Consumers’ Perception and Acceptability of Nigerian Rice in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined consumers’ perception and acceptability of local rice brands produced, processed and packaged in Akwa Ibom State. The target population for the study comprised all the local rice consumers in the various households of the study area. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting 10 local government areas (LGA) and 340 respondents for the study. Data were collected with the use of structured questionnaire and analyzed using, percentages, means, composite index and ANOVA. Findings showed that consumers’ perception of local rice in the study area was highly positive. The respondents perceived that Local rice is tasty (ꭕ=3.63), that both the rich and the poor have access to local rice (ꭕ=3.63), the rice has high nutritive contents (ꭕ=3.56) and is less expensive (ꭕ=3.54). Also, respondents demonstrated good level of acceptability of local rice produced in the study area with an index value of 0.4029. However, with 0.3647 and 0.2324 values for moderate and low acceptance categories respectively, a gap needs to be filled if optimal consumption of local rice is to be attained in the study area. Government therefore should look into these need areas in order to fill the gaps, which are specifically in rice quality improvement and product availability.