Open AccessImpact of sucrose contents and cooking time on cowpea prices in Senegal
Author(s) -
Mb.D Faye,
André Jooste,
James LowenbergDeBoer,
Joan R. Fulton
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
suid-afrikaanse tydskrif vir ekonomiese en bestuurswetenskappe/south african journal of economic and management sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.277
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 2222-3436
pISSN - 1015-8812
DOI - 10.4102/sajems.v9i2.1147
Subject(s) - sucrose , product (mathematics) , function (biology) , economics , agricultural economics , hedonic pricing , business , econometrics , microeconomics , food science , mathematics , chemistry , biology , geometry , evolutionary biology
An alternative approach to traditional consumer behaviour and demand theory is characteristics theory, which assumes that a consumer’s utility function is generated by the characteristics, or attributes, that goods and services possess. Instead of a utility being a function of a product, it becomes a function of the attributes provided by these products. In this paper a hedonic pricing model is used to investigate the influence of sucrose level and cooking time on cowpea prices in Senegal. Cooking time has a significant impact on price only at Tilene market in Dakar, while the sucrose contents tend to provide a premium throughout. Further investigation shows that the local varieties, AW, Matam and Ndiassiw have higher sucrose contents than the other cowpea varieties